Harry Potter: Prince of Dragons
by The New York Bear
Summary: Harry's parents were really Bahamut, deity and king of the good dragons, and his mate (an OC) who had incarnated themselves to live mortal lives as James and Lily Potter. Things went very differently for Harry after Voldemort's attack.
1. Homecoming

**A/N - This is basically just a random "what if" idea I had. Right now just a one-shot.**

 **Oh, and I don't own either _Harry Potter_ or _Dungeons and Dragons_. They belong to their respective creators.**

1) HOMECOMING

Bahamut regained consciousness with a sudden start.

"What – ?" he gasped as he stretched out his long neck and looked around. He was in his main sleeping chamber.

"Be careful my liege" said a voice behind him, "you're still disoriented by your sudden return." Bahamut looked behind him. Marroshok the Tail, his bodyguard was standing there with a look of concern on his face.

"Marroshok" said Bahamut greeting the huge gold dragon, "what happened?"

"Your mortal body was killed on Earth" was the answer.

"Which must have sent me back here" said Bahamut as he pondered this.

"Yes" said Marroshok, "we would have liked to have saved you but – "

"No" said Bahamut, "you know that when I choose to incarnate as a mortal you must not interfere." His mind was clearing and his memory was returning quickly. He sat up suddenly and his wings flared out in alarm.

"Daranni!" he exclaimed.

"She's here" said Marroshok, "she was returned not long after you were. She has not yet woken up.

"That's good" said Bahamut, "and our son? Is he here too?"

"No" was the reply, "Kurya says he is still on Earth."

"You all saw the attack?"

"We did" said Marrashok, "your son survived."

"Yes" said Bahamut, "if he hadn't he would be here now. He must be retrieved immediately. Send Kurya to get him and bring him here as quickly as possible."

"It will be done" said Marroshok.

"Thank you" said Bahamut as he got to his feet. If Marroshok was huge Bahamut was massive. The platinum dragon towered over his bodyguard.

"I'm going to see Daranni" said Bahamut, "please alert me as soon as Kurya returns with my son." Marroshok bowed his head and left the chamber. Bahamut centered himself as he also prepared to exit the chamber.

"Harry..." he whispered to himself.

As Bahamut, dragon deity and king of the good dragons, began making his way toward his mate's room his mind ran over everything that happened since he was last in his palace. 21 years had gone by since he had decided to incarnate himself and live a mortal life on the planet Earth. This was something he did from time to time in order to gain a better understanding of mortals and the lives they led. On these occasions his memories would all be stored away behind an impenetrable mental block which in effect meant that when he lived that mortal life he had no knowledge or memories of being anything other than what he appeared to be at the time. After his mortal body died he would return to his palace on Mt. Celestia (the full name of which was "The Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia"), resume his normal form and regain all of his suppressed memories.

The lives he lived as a mortal, and the kinds of mortal beings he chose to become each time were a varied lot. Usually he went alone and his mate, Daranni ruled as his regent during these times. She had been his mate for several millennia by now having been given immortality and raised up to be his queen. This time, however, she had decided to go with him to the Prime Material Plane and he had laid a set of spells to ensure that they would meet and mate as mortals, even though they would not know who the other really was until after the mortal lives they led were over.

For this trip he had incarnated himself as a human wizard on the planet Earth. Born in the Earth year 1960 he grew up under the name 'James Potter' and attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1971 to 1978. He met Daranni on his way there for his first year. She had been incarnated as Lily Evans, younger daughter of the Evans family. Long story short they had finally fallen in love during their last year at Hogwarts, had married right out of school, and their son Harry had been born on July 31st, 1980.

Now, 15 months later, his mortal body was dead at the hands of the dark wizard Voldemort and he had been forcibly returned to his dragon self and his palace. He gritted his teeth as all of his memories settled themselves.

"Voldemort will pay" Bahamut said to himself, "when my regenerative year is up I will hunt him down."

He entered Daranni's chamber and saw her sleeping there. She was a silver dragon and she was almost as big as he was. He lay down next to her and waited for her to wake up. It wasn't a long wait.

"No – !" shrieked Daranni as she suddenly woke up with a jerk.

"Calm yourself my love" said Bahamut next to her, "you're all right."

"Bahamut?" said Daranni as she turned and looked at him, "did something happen? I can't seem to think straight."

"Relax" said Bahamut, "the confusion will pass soon." Daranni did so, lowering her head. It didn't take long before the memories of her life as Lily Potter returned in full force.

"Voldemort" she said to her husband in a low voice, "he killed me, he killed both of us." Bahamut nodded.

"He did" he said. Daranni's head shot up again.

"Harry!" she exclaimed, "where's Harry?"

"Marrashok says he survived the attack" said Bahamut, "I sent Kurya to find him and bring him to us. It should not take long. I hope."

"He survived?" said Daranni, "how?"

"I don't know yet" said Bahamut, "but I intend to find out. And when we are able to return to Earth I will make Voldemort pay."

"I'll help you" said Daranni firmly, "how long do we have to wait?"

"A year" said Bahamut, "if you or I are killed while in mortal form we are sent back here and we have to stay on this plane for at least a year until we can leave again."

"Oh yes" said Daranni, "You told me when you first made me immortal. But this is the first time I've been killed while in a mortal form. I had forgotten."

"We cannot go back as James and Lily" said Bahamut, "those forms are dead. We will go as ourselves and Voldemort will learn why it is a bad idea to cross ones such as us."

Daranni nodded her head in agreement. The two dragons talked for a while as they reoriented themselves back to their true forms. Eventually they fell asleep again lying next to each other.

When Bahamut woke up again he saw Marrashok standing near him.

"My liege" said the gold dragon, "Kurya has returned and she has your son."

"Have her bring him here" said Bahamut. Marrashok bowed and left the chamber. Bahamut nudged Daranni who opened her eyes and gave him a sleepy look.

"Wake up" said Bahamut, "Kurya is back and she has Harry." Daranni immediately became fully awake.

"She does?" Daranni said, "where is he?"

"They're coming now" said Bahamut sensing the approach of the others. A minute later Marrashok reentered the chamber followed by a young woman carrying a bundle in her arms.

"Kurya" said Bahamut to the woman, "where did you find him?"

"I found him on a doorstep in the town of Little Whinging, Surrey" said the woman. Her full name and title was 'Kurya the Eye.' She was also a gold dragon but since she was Bahamut's chief spy and her duties often required secrecy she was able to change her form at will – a very useful ability for someone like her.

"A doorstep?" roared Daranni, "who would dare – !" Bahamut held up a leg and silenced her.

"Is there any sign of who did this?" Bahamut asked Kurya.

"There was letter" said Kurya holding it up.

"We'll deal with that presently" said the dragon king, "for now please bring our son to us." Kurya did so, bringing the bundle to where both Bahamut and Daranni could look down at the face of a baby boy fast asleep in Kurya's arms. On his forehead was lightning bolt scar. Daranni recoiled a little when she saw it before looking at it more closely.

"That scar" she said, "he did not have that before. I sense very dark magic in it."

"Yes" said Bahamut, "that will be dealt with as soon as we get him settled."

Both dragons bent down to look more closely at the boy.

"He looks so peaceful and cute" said Daranni.

"He does" said Bahamut who then put his snout near the boy who, as if sensing his father, smiled in his sleep.

"Wake up Harry" said Bahamut softly.

Harry opened his eyes sleepily and gazed up directly into Bahamut's eyes.

"Dada!" he gurgled happily.

"He knows you" said Daranni.

"Of course he does" said Bahamut as if it were the most natural thing in creation for a human child to recognize a dragon as its parent. Harry heard Daranni and turned to look at her.

"Mama!" he called, holding his arms out to the female dragon.

"Yes Harry it's me" said Daranni. It was but the work of a moment for Daranni to change herself to the form of Lily Potter. She took Harry from Kurya and held him close.

"Shh child" she said, "mummy's here."

Meanwhile Bahamut turned himself back into James Potter.

"It's too bad we cannot return to Earth this way" he said, "but James and Lily are dead. However we can retain these forms here at home for Harry's sake."

"Yes" said Daranni still fussing over Harry.

"Please give me the letter" Bahamut said to Kurya. She gave it to him and he opened it. A few moments passed while he read it.

"That FOOL!" Bahamut exclaimed when he was done.

"What?" asked Daranni, startled.

"Albus Dumbledore" said Bahamut with clear anger in his voice, "decided in his _infinite_ wisdom to send Harry to be raised by your sister Petunia."

"What?!" said Daranni, "has he finally gone senile? She hates magic. She would never treat Harry right."

"No" agreed Bahamut, "it's a good thing Kurya found him." He turned to Kurya. "You have done well" he said, "you will be rewarded for this."

"Thank you my liege" said Kurya.

"Leave us for now" said Bahamut, "we'll talk tomorrow." Kurya bowed and left the chamber, turning back into a gold dragon as she went.

"So what now?" asked Daranni after Kurya had left.

"We raise Harry, just as good parents should" said Bahamut, "only with our mortal selves dead we will raise him here rather than on Earth."

"He is still mortal" pointed out Daranni.

"Not for long" said Bahamut, "if things had turned out better he would have lived a full mortal life and after his death his real self would be freed and he would have come here to join us. But now, with us all being here instead of on Earth, I see no reason to wait for his death to free his true self. He may have been born human but he will grow up here as the dragon that he really is."

"What about going to Hogwarts?" asked Daranni although she smiled as she said it. Bahamut chuckled.

"Do you really think" he replied, "when you consider everything he'll learn here, that he'll even need to go to Hogwarts?" Daranni nodded.

"Should we tell anyone where Harry is?" she asked. Bahamut considered this for a long moment.

"Maybe Sirius and Remus" he said, "and they will have to keep it secret. But no one else."

"Not even Dumbledore?"

"Especially not Dumbledore" said Bahamut, "he's a good man for the most part, even a great one. He's a powerful wizard whom I have some respect for. But he's also the man who sent Harry to your sister's house – and left him on their doorstep. Who leaves a baby on a doorstep in Britain in November?"

And so it came to pass that Harry Potter was raised in his father's palace on Mt. Celestia. He was raised as both a human and a dragon. As a human he looked just like James Potter had, but with Lily's eyes. In his dragon form he took after both of his parents with his scales being a mix of platinum and silver. He had a happy childhood learning everything his parents and the other residents of his home had to teach him, and also playing and getting up to mischief like any child would. Daranni often said to Bahamut that Harry had inherited the 'James Potter prankster gene.' Bahamut would just smirk at that while calmly replying that he also inherited the 'Lily Potter brain.'

On Earth no one noticed that Harry Potter was missing. Dumbledore never checked to see if he was at the Dursleys. His magical instruments in his office showed that Harry was alive and that was enough for him. And so it went until the Hogwarts letters went out around Harry's eleventh birthday. Only then did Dumbledore discover that Harry was not at the Dursleys – he had never been at the Dursleys.

But that is another story.

THE END

 **A/N - Annnnd cut! I don't really have plans to expand this right now. I'll consider it if people** ** _really_** **want me to.**

 **For any non-D &D players Bahamut is the king of the metallic or "good" dragons. Marrashok and Kurya are two of his seven closest councilors. Daranni is an OC I made up so Harry could be a full dragon rather than a half and half.**


	2. A Marauder Reunion

**A/N - Well I must admit to being gratified by so many people favoriting my little story. I said I might continue it and obviously I'm going to or you wouldn't be reading this.**

 **I don't have a larger plan for this one. I'm just putting up another one shot about this AU. Any future chapters will also be complete stories in and of themselves. Therefore the thread will continue to be listed as "complete." If a larger plan does emerge later on then great. Right now it's just the occasional incident in the life of the Royal Family of Dragons.**

 **One thing to mention: from now on when Bahamut and Daranni are in human form around other HP characters I will refer to them as James and Lily to distinguish their human selves from their dragon ones. Harry will always be Harry, no matter what form he takes.**

 **Thanks to those of you who left me some feedback. I really do appreciate it.**

 **Oh, and I don't own either** ** _Harry Potter_** **or** ** _Dungeons and Dragons_** **. They belong to their respective creators.**

2) A MARAUDER REUNION

Sirius Black didn't know how long he'd been in Azkaban. It could have been days, weeks, months, or even years. Time didn't seem to have much meaning in this place. It was true he could see day and night through the window of his cell but when the dementors came around it was very easy to lose track of, well, everything. If it was day before the dementors came around his cell and still day after they were gone that could mean that it was the same day or maybe it was tomorrow, or two days later, or even more days than that.

On this day Sirius was lying on the ragged broken mattress that he had for a bed staring out the window at the sky. He was fairly clearheaded today. The dementors had not been around at all since yesterday which was quite unusual. Normally one would expect to have them pass by one's cell at least twice a day if not more.

While he was thinking this over the door to his cell was unlocked and opened by a (human) guard.

"Black, you've got visitors" said the guard who motioned for him to get up.

"I do?" asked Sirius, "who is it?" The guard didn't answer but just gestured with his wand for Sirius to accompany him. Having no choice Sirius left his cell to find two more guards waiting outside to go with him to the visiting room.

Upon reaching the visiting room he was secured to the prisoner's chair after which a second door opened and his two visitors entered the room. Sirius' mouth dropped open in surprise when he saw who one of them was.

"Close your mouth grandson" said the first visitor, "it is inappropriate for a Black to look so undignified."

"Yes grandfather" said Sirius to his grandfather Arcturus Black, "I'm just surprised to see you."

"As am I to be here" the reply, "it is none of my concern if you wish to ruin your life, but I will not have a member of my family thrown in prison without a proper trial, no matter how much of a disappointment he may be to the name of Black."

"Thank you grandfather I love you too" said Sirius sarcastically.

"Silence you insolent whelp" snapped Arcturus, "I'm not doing this for you. It sets a bad precedent for the ministry to imprison anyone without a trial, especially a Black. As soon as I realized that had happened I contacted our family lawyers. They especially recommended this man who is here with me. This is Mr. Borkadd and he will be representing you."

Sirius looked at Mr. Borkadd. He was a fairly nondescript looking man except for two things: his hair which was a very golden blonde, and his very intense golden eyes. One look at them and you would never forget them.

"Pleased to meet you Mr. Borkadd" said Sirius, "that's an unusual name you have. I don't think I've ever heard it before."

"We're a very private family" said the lawyer, "after you've been freed I might tell you a few things about us if you're interested, and I feel like it. Now, let us begin..."

The trial was held several days later. Not all that much needs to be said about it. Under Veritaserum Sirius testified that 1) he was not a death eater, 2) he was not the Potter secret keeper, 3) Peter Pettigrew was, 4) He had not killed Pettigrew or all of those muggles, 5) Pettigrew had done that before escaping.

It also came out that he was an unregistered animagus however after spending time in Azkaban already his punishment for that was reduced to a simple fine which was quickly paid.

Following his acquittal Sirius spent several days at St. Mungo's being treated for dementor exposure. It was there that he found out that he had been imprisoned for several months. It had been early November when he was arrested. Now it was almost the beginning of the summer. It really was hard to keep track of time in Azkaban.

On the third day of his stay Remus Lupin came to visit him. Their reunion was an emotional one. Lupin had believed Sirius to be guilty and was extremely apologetic. For his part Sirius blamed everything on Pettigrew and told Lupin not to worry about it.

Remus was with Sirius when the latter was finally released from St. Mungo's. As they were getting ready to leave Sirius' room for the last time an owl flew in the window with a letter for Sirius.

 _Meet me in room 7 at the Leaky Cauldron. Come at once. Bring Remus Lupin with you if he is there._

 _Mr. Borkadd_

"I wonder what my lawyer wants" said Sirius.

"Well Padfoot" said Remus, "do you have any pressing plans stopping you from finding out right now?"

"No Moony I do not. Do you?"

"Not at all."

"Then let's go and see what this is all about" said Sirius and they both turned down the street and headed for the Leaky Cauldron. It only took about 20 to 25 minutes on foot before they reached Charing Cross Road and entered the Leaky Cauldron. With a nod to Tom behind the bar they went upstairs, found room 7, knocked on the door, and were invited inside.

"Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, thank you for coming" said Mr. Borkadd as he gestured for them to sit down and served them some tea. They talked about small matters for a while before they finally got down to business.

"You're probably wondering why I wanted to see the two of you" the lawyer began, "Mr. Black when I first met you in Azkaban I said that after you were freed I might tell you a few things about my family if you were interested."

"I remember" said Sirius, "is that why we're here?"

"In a way" was the reply, "you'll learn the truth about me and why I came here. But before I say anything else I will need a magical oath from both of you not reveal any of what you hear from me to anyone unless I or my sovereign allows you to do so."

Both Marauders were quite intrigued and they both quickly gave the requested oath.

"Thank you" said Mr. Borkadd, "first I will tell you that my full name is Borkadd the Claw."

"That's an unusual name for a man to have" said Remus.

"And if I were a man you would be absolutely right" said Mr. Borkadd with a smirk. For a brief instant both Sirius and Remus thought they saw a hint of something else in Mr. Borkadd, something that was most definitely not human.

"What are you?" asked Remus in a slightly awed voice.

"I am Borkadd the Claw" was the reply, "hand of justice for my liege Bahamut." Sirius' eyes widened.

"The dragon king?" he gasped.

"Oh so people do remember the higher dragons" said Borkadd.

"I'm a Black" said Sirius, "of course I remember."

"I know of them too" said Remus, "I found numerous references to both Bahamut and his sister (and polar opposite) Tiamat during my various researches over time. But I thought they were only legends."

"No, they're real" said Borkadd, "Bahamut sent me to Earth because he wishes for the two of you to come to his realm to meet with him. To avoid unnecessary talk I couldn't just remove you, Sirius, from your cell. I had to get you out in a manner that everyone would accept without any problems. Now that it has been done I can invite you to come with me back to Bahamut's home on Mt. Celestia."

Both Sirius and Remus were shocked by this revelation.

"Did my grandfather know about you?" asked Sirius.

"No" said Borkadd, "Arcturus Black knows me only as the lawyer that was recommended to represent you. We've had no dealings since your trial and I don't expect to see him again."

"Why does the dragon king want to see us?" asked Remus.

"That is not for me to say" said Borkadd, "but I think you'll both be pleased with what you learn. Will you accept his invitation?"

"Well I can't say I'm not intrigued" said Sirius, "but how do we get there? Mt. Celestia is not a place that you can just apparate to you know. In fact, I don't know how one gets there at all."

"You accompany me" said Borkadd as he stood up, "all of us who live on Mt. Celestia can come and go as we please. And we can bring visitors. Just take my hands."

Borkadd held out his hands and almost automatically Remus stood up and took one while Sirius stood up and took the other. Borkadd nodded.

"We go" he said. Neither Sirius or Remus knew exactly what Mr. Borkadd did but for a split second reality seemed to turn inside out and then all three of them were somewhere else.

"That was brilliant!" Sirius exclaimed after taking a second to catch his breath.

"Thank you" said Borkadd, "welcome to the audience chamber."

Sirius and Remus looked around. The three of them had appeared in a very large, lavishly decorated room. The room was so large that both Sirius and Remus were convinced that Hogwarts could have fit in it and still have room to spare. And yet, despite the large size of the room there was no furniture, at least no human-sized furniture. At one end of the room there was a low platform which contained a (very) large thin mat spread over it. There were a couple of enormous arches at either end of the room which clearly led to other rooms in this place.

"Dragons don't really need furniture" said Borkadd as if reading Sirius' thoughts.

"I guess they don't" said Sirius.

"Wait here" said Borkadd, "while I let the King know you have arrived." As Borkadd turned towards one of the room's exits he changed. Where before there had been a middle-aged human there was now a huge gold dragon. He turned his head and looked at the two Marauders.

"Yes, this is my real form" he said, "if you know about my liege's court you should not be surprised."

"You're one of the inner seven" said Remus.

"Indeed" said Borkadd as he turned again and left the room. Sirius said nothing. He had read about Bahamut and his court from books in the Black library. He knew about the seven gold dragons that were the dragon king's closest advisers. He had not expected that one of them would personally bring him and Remus to Bahmut's palace.

Both friends stood silently in the middle of the audience chamber as they tried to absorb everything that was happening to them. Finally Remus turned and looked out one of the windows. His eyebrows went up at what he was seeing. Sirius also looked out the window. Outside he could see a vast green land of low hills and valleys. Here and there were stands of trees. Off in the distance there appeared to be a small settlement of some kind, a village perhaps? It was all very beautiful. It also appeared to be moving as the landscape was sliding in one direction past the window.

"Of course" said Remus as he nodded his head, "Bahamut's palace is said to move around several of the planes of Celestia. I guess it's true."

"Yes" said Sirius as he watched in wonder as the scenery went by, "I never thought I would travel to another plane of existence, let alone a place like Mt. Celestia. As far as I know the knowledge to move between the various planes was lost centuries ago."

"As far as we know" echoed Remus, "But you heard what Borkadd said. Everyone who lives here can come and go as they wish."

"True" said Sirius, "you know, I wonder if the Unspeakables are researching dimensional travel?"

"It wouldn't surprise me if they are" said Remus, "it sounds like their sort of thing. Some very powerful beings are said to live on Mt. Celestia besides Bahamut and his court."

"I know" said Sirius, "and I would rather not meet them."

"Why not?" asked Remus.

"Powerful beings are, well powerful" said Sirius, "much more powerful than we are. I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of beings like that, even if they are good beings."

They halted their conversation when they heard loud footsteps coming from the same arch that Borkadd had exited through. It proved to be Borkadd himself returning and he was not alone. With him was by far the largest dragon either of them had ever seen. Unlike Borkadd his scales were platinum in color. There were also feelings of power, strength, wisdom, and majesty coming from him. Both Sirius nor Remus looked at him in awe. They had no doubts about who it was. And they were right.

"Sirius Black, Remus Lupin" said Borkadd, "may I present my liege King Bahamut of Celestia."

"Thank you Borkadd" said Bahamut, "leave us now so we may talk." Borkadd dipped his head in acknowledgment and left the chamber. Bahamut turned back to his guests in time to see both Sirius and Remus bowing to him. He chuckled to himself as he thought _'this is going to be fun.'_

"You may rise" Bahamut said to the two humans who did so and looked up at him.

"We are honored to be here your majesty" said Sirius.

"Yes" said Remus, "thank you for inviting us."

"You are welcome" said Bahamut. He looked at the two of them with a critical eye for a long moment.

"It's good to see you again," the dragon king said at last, "Padfoot, Moony, you're both looking fairly well."

Sirius' and Remus' jaws immediately dropped to the floor. Whatever they had been expecting Bahamut to say it was not that. Bahamut smirked.

"I suggest you both close your mouths before something large flies into them" the dragon king said.

"How do you know those nicknames" Remus gasped out when he got his voice back.

Bahamut laughed. It was the deep, rich laugh of a very amused dragon who knew he had gotten one over on his guests.

"Sirius" said Bahamut, "I always loved how much you look like a fish after you've been pranked."

"How do you know these things?" demanded Remus who had recovered quickly.

"I know them" said Bahamut, "because I was there with you the whole time. I'm Prongs."

Silence.

Dead silence.

Both Sirius and Remus stared at Bahamut in disbelief.

"You can't be" Sirius finally said in a small voice, "Prongs is – "

" – Dead?" Bahamut interrupted him, "yes and no. My mortal body is dead. When that happens I get sent back here and returned to my true self for a while to heal." Seeing both Remus' and Sirius' evident confusion he sighed and gestured with one claw. Two human sized chairs appeared next to the humans.

"Sit down" the dragon said, "and I'll explain."

Once they were sitting down Bahamut told them about how he and his mate had incarnated themselves as James and Lily Potter, how they had grown up, married, had a child, and were eventually killed thereby being sent back here to their real forms. He also told them about how his memories as Bahamut were sealed away during his mortal life so he did not know that he was anything other than James Potter during that time.

Both Sirius and Remus found the story very difficult to believe but Bahamut told them things that only they and James Potter would have known so they both had to accept that the king of dragons really was their dead friend James. To drive the point firmly home Bahamut turned himself back into James Potter and stood before them grinning his well-known prankster grin. Both Sirius and Remus leapt to their feet and threw themselves on their friend, wrapping him in a tight embrace from both sides.

"Prongs!" Sirius said, practically weeping with joy, "it really is you! I can't believe it. You're alive!"

"Nothing's been right since you've been gone" said Remus from his other side, "Sirius was sent to Azkaban without a trial, Peter is a traitor, Alice and Frank were tortured into insanity by death eaters after Voldemort fell, too many of the bastard's inner circle bought their ways out of prison through bribery and pleading the imperius curse – I could go on."

"There's no need" their friend James said, "I understand."

"What about Lily?" asked Sirius.

"She's here" was the reply, "you should know that her real name is 'Daranni.' She's a silver dragon."

"And Harry?" asked Remus, "Dumbledore won't let me see him."

"He's here too" said James, "I had him brought here as soon as I realized what had happened. One of my inner circle found him on the Dursley doorstep."

"What?!" barked Sirius, "Dumbledore sent him to Petunia's family? Was he crazy?"

"Possibly" said James, "he's old enough for dementia to be setting in."

"Does he know, well about you being – ?"

"No" said James cutting him off, "and I would like to keep it that way, at least for now. He has no business interfering with my family. Will you keep this to yourselves?"

"Oh yes" said Sirius, "I just hope I get to see his face if the day ever comes that he finally learns who you really are."

"Same here Prongs" said Remus.

"I'll make sure you have ringside seats" said James, "now would you like to see Lily and Harry?"

"YES!" both Sirius and Remus exclaimed together before looking at each other and laughing. James smiled and shifted back into his true form before looking at them both with a solemn face.

"One thing" said Bahamut, "we can't come back to Earth, at least not as we were. You must accept that James and Lily Potter are officially dead and only Bahamut and Daranni remain. Daranni will not answer to the name of Lily anymore and except for this conversation I am no longer using the name of James." He stopped and looked at them thoughtfully for a moment before continuing with a slight smile "however I am still your friend, and the two of you may continue to call me 'Prongs' if you wish."

"Oh Merlin yes!" said Sirius with enthusiasm while Remus simply smiled and nodded.

"Good" said Bahamut, "now if you'll come this I'll take you to see Daranni and Harry."

Bahamut led Sirius and Remus out of the audience chamber and back the way he had come. Although he was walking quite slowly his strides were so long because he was so large that both Sirius and Remus often had to run to keep up with him. The size of the chambers they passed through also didn't help. Dragon architecture is inherently enormous. By the time they got where they were going both humans felt as if they had run several kilometers.

"Next time can we take a portkey or use brooms?" asked Sirius panting from the effort.

"Sorry" said Bahamut not looking the least bit sorry, "my home wasn't built for human-sized people."

"So we noticed" said Remus also breathing hard, "are we there yet?"

"Yes" said Bahamut leading them into another chamber. Inside the chamber Sirius and Remus saw another dragon, silver this time, and almost as big as Bahamut himself.

"Daranni my love" said Bahamut, "our guests have arrived.

"So I see" said the silver dragon coming towards them, "well, well, look what the beholder dragged in."

"Now dear, there's no need to insult beholders like that" said Bahamut to her with a smirk on his face.

"Sorry" she replied before looking more directly at the two humans, "hello Remus, Sirius. It's good to see you again."

"It's amazing to see you Lily" said Sirius, "I mean Daranni. We're so glad you're alive."

"We are" said Remus echoing Sirius.

"Thank you" said Daranni, "there's someone else here who's also glad to see you."

"What – ?" Sirius began to say before a loud joyful cry of "PA-FOO!" was heard in the room and he was knocked flat on his back. It took a few seconds for him to recover from the hit and while he lay on the floor he heard a loud "MOON!" and an "oof" as another body hit the floor.

"Harry!" Sirius heard Bahamut say, "what have I told you about greeting guests?" Despite his apparently stern tone it was obvious the dragon king was trying very hard not to laugh.

"Harry?"asked Sirius, finally sitting up. Remus was sitting up next to him. There was a dragon sitting on his legs looking at his face. This dragon was very small, about the size of a golden retriever. Its scales were a mixture of platinum and silver and when it turned to look back at Sirius he could see it had very bright green eyes.

"Harry?" asked Sirius, amazed. The little dragon looked at Sirius and then turned into a human toddler with a giggle.

"I don't believe it" exclaimed Sirius, "it really is Harry."

"Of course it is" said Daranni, "my husband and I are both dragons. Why would our son not be a dragon too?"

"But he was born a human" Sirius pointed out while Remus hugged Harry

"He was" nodded Bahamut, "but he's still our son. After he was brought here I released his true draconic self."

"He can switch between being a human and a dragon quite easily" said Daranni.

"As can we" said Bahamut. He and Daranni looked at each other for a moment before they both nodded. As one they transformed back into James and Lily Potter.

"You see?" said Lily. She reached down and took Harry from Remus.

"Prongs this is all amazing" said Remus, "how I wish we could tell everyone about this."

"No!" said James forcefully, "you must not do that."

"Please understand" said Lily, "James and Lily Potter are dead. When we were sent back here we left our mortal bodies behind."

"She's right Moony" said Sirius, "I saw both of their bodies that night. They can't just return to Earth as James and Lily."

"But if you want we can take these forms when you visit us" said James.

"Okay" said Remus, "I do realize why everyone can't know the truth about you. It would complicate things."

"It would" said James, "we'd rather Harry's true heritage remain unknown, at least for now. We mean it. We don't want you to tell anyone. It's enough that the wizarding world idolizes him as the 'Boy-How-Lived.'"

"Not even Dumbledore?" asked Remus.

"Especially not Dumbledore" said James, "don't misunderstand me; we both like the headmaster but he can be very manipulative. He tends to think about the bigger picture and the greater good of the nation as opposed to the good of the individual. As a king myself I understand that quite well – indeed there are times when I must do similar things. That's why I want to keep our son away from him until he's able to stand on his own two or four feet."

"What about when he attends Hogwarts?" asked Sirius.

"We're not sure that he'll be going to Hogwarts" said Lily.

"We'll deal with that later" said James, "we have plenty of time. Now would you like to see your rooms?"

"We have rooms here?" asked Sirius.

"Of course" said James, "you're Harry's godfather and honorary uncle. You're family and I know Harry will love to have you both around. Come whenever you want, stay as long as you like – and yes, the beds in your quarters are human-sized."

"How will we get here and back from Earth?" asked Remus.

"We'll arrange it" said James, "however this is just for the two of you. You WILL keep this to yourselves, is that understood?"

"Clearly" said Remus.

"Marauder's honor" said Sirius raising his right hand.

"Good" said James. He turned back into Bahamut while Lily turned back into Daranni and Harry turned back into his dragon form and flew up to perch on his mother's back.

"Now if you'll come with us" said Bahamut, "we'll get you settled."

Sirius and Remus became frequent visitors to Bahamut's palace. During their visits Bahamut and Daranni often took on the forms of James and Lily (but not always and only in private). Harry was always glad to see the two marauders and it can be justly said that they helped make his childhood very enjoyable.

THE END of A Marauder Reunion

 **A/N - Okay, there you have another slice of life from this AU. Borkadd is another of Bahamut's seven closest councilors. As far as Harry going to Hogwarts in the future? Maybe he will, maybe he won't. If I ever decide to write that story you'll see it here (maybe).**


	3. The Prophecy

**A/N - Hello, I'm back. I must say it's amazing (and gratifying) that since I posted the previous chapter the number of follows for this series has multiplied** ** _6 times!_** **as well as the number of favorites almost tripling. It's also passed 2,000 views with only two parts. I'm glad people like it and want me to continue it. So here's a new story.**

 **I must warn you though that I'm not very satisfied with this chapter. It does potentially set up a larger story line but I think it could have been better (I'm a harsh critic of my own work. Ha!). I still hope you enjoy it. Also I should mention that as with this installment future tales might not be in chronological order. This one actually happens before the previous chapter but after chapter 1. It should not be necessary to read them in chronological order though since each one is self-contained.**

 **Now since a number of people left guest comments I can only reply to them here, so here goes:**

 **To the Guest who suggested telling a larger story as a series of one-shots that is probably what will happen if I can figure out a real larger story for this.**

 **To Thunder Dragon, unfortunately aside from Neil Gaiman's** ** _Sandman_** **series I don't know D/C that well (I much more of a Marvel guy). I have read** ** _Child of the Storm_** **and it is a spectacular piece of work. Nimbus Llewelyn is an excellent writer and he's doing a great job with his series. I'm not sure I could pull off something like that and with how often I post chapters it would probably take 30 years to finish. Have you considered writing it yourself? Your outline was very thorough and you seem to know what you want. That makes you the best person to do it. If you do please let me know. I will read it.**

 **NooShoak, yeah Harry does have bad luck with aunts!**

 **To Odin's Eye & Kaiser Dragon, thank you for the suggestions. I'm always open to them and readers of my story ****_Tails' TARDIS Tales_** **know that I do sometimes take them.**

 **And to everyone else, thank you for the support. I'm glad you like what I've written so far.**

 **Oh, and I don't own either** ** _Harry Potter_** **or** ** _Dungeons and Dragons_** **. They belong to their respective creators.**

 **Okay, now let's get on with it.**

3) THE PROPHECY

"There's no question about it" said the Healer to Bahamut and Daranni, "that darkness in Harry's scar is a soul fragment."

Bahamut ground his teeth when he heard the diagnosis. It was only a few days since he and Daranni had been forcibly returned to Mt. Celestia after their mortal bodies had been killed by Lord Voldemort. The two of them were still adjusting to being back home. They were now consulting with their chief healer regarding the darkness in Harry's scar. Harry was currently lying asleep on an examination bed in the Healer's office after receiving a full check up.

"A soul fragment?" asked Daranni, "how did it get there? Who's soul is it?"

"Good question" said Bahamut, "I'll swear that Harry didn't have that fragment on the night we were killed."

"He didn't" said Daranni, "if he did I'd like to think one of us would have noticed. But I know for a fact that he didn't have that scar when I had to face Voldemort."

"And now he does" said Bahamut, "I can only think of one person that soul fragment could belong to."

"I agree" said Daranni, "one crazy person."

"My dear, don't insult crazy people" said Bahamut, "I've known some very nice ones and they wouldn't like it."

"Fine" snorted Daranni, "can we please just get that thing out of Harry?"

"Yes" said Bahamut, "we'd best do that. Healer please remove that soul fragment from my son."

"Very well my liege" said the Healer, "do you wish for me to destroy it when I do so? Or transfer it to another vessel?"

"Transfer it" said Bahamut, "I want to confirm my suspicions. That will not be possible if it is simply destroyed."

"As you command" said the Healer. He began the process of removing the soul fragment from Harry.

Nothing happened.

Puzzled, the Healer repeated the necessary spell over Harry.

Again nothing happened.

"Hmm, this is unexpected" said the Healer, "the fragment is resisting me."

"What?" said Daranni, "it shouldn't be able to do that."

"Not unless it has found a source of power on which it can feed to hold it in place" said Bahamut.

"Yes" said the Healer, "and I'm sorry to say that in your son it has found such a source."

"Then how can it be removed?" asked Daranni.

"We need more power" said the Healer, "my liege if you could add your power to mine?"

"I will" said Bahamut, "but I warn you that I'm still recovering from my death. I'm not yet back to full strength."

"It should still be enough" said the Healer before turning to Daranni, "but if you would like to help too – "

"I will" said Daranni firmly, "I want that thing out of my son's head!"

"Then between the both of you there shouldn't be any problems" said the Healer, "if you are ready we can begin."

The two royal dragons combined their power and began sending it the Healer. Drawing upon as much of the new power as he could the Healer began chanting the spell to draw a soul fragment out of its container. This time a dark mist began to slowly rise out of Harry's scar. It took several minutes to fully remove the soul fragment because it tried very hard to cling to the scar. However the combined power of Bahamut, Daranni, and the Healer eventually overwhelmed it and with a loud screech it finally came loose from the scar. As it did so the scar on Harry's head began to fade. Within the next few days it would completely disappear.

The Healer quickly cast a containment spell and the mist was trapped in a small area above the still sleeping infant. As the three adults looked at the mist they began to see a face form in it. One the two parents knew all too well.

"I knew it" snarled Bahamut, "it's a piece of Voldemort. Healer, contain that thing now."

"I'm way ahead of you my liege" said the Healer. He held up an open crystal globe and began chanting a spell of summoning. The mist was pulled into the globe after which the Healer sealed it so the soul fragment couldn't escape.

"I've spelled it to be unbreakable and impervious" said the Healer, "this little abomination isn't going anywhere."

"Good" said Daranni, "how is Harry? Will there be any lingering effects from his having this – thing – in his head?"

"I do not think so" said the Healer, "the fragment was not there for very long and Harry is still an infant. He would have had to carry it for a prolonged period of time for it to really effect him. We will all monitor him for a while but I think when he wakes up he will be fine."

"That's a relief" said Daranni.

"What I want to know" said the Healer, "is why this Voldemort person would put a piece of his soul into Harry?"

"I'm sure he didn't do it deliberately" said Daranni, "that goes against his whole purpose of killing Harry."

"Indeed" said Bahamut, "I think his soul was already fragmented before he ever came to Godric's Hollow."

"You mean he made a _horcrux?_ " gasped Daranni in horror as she realized what Bahamut meant.

"At least one" said Bahamut grimly, "probably more. Remember what Kurya told us about that night. Voldemort fired the killing curse at Harry but instead of it killing our son the curse rebounded back at Voldemort whose body then disintegrated. The killing curse doesn't work like that. It just kills the victim and leaves a body behind. If, however, the victim has made a horcrux – "

" – it will anchor them to life" said Daranni.

"Horcruxes" said the Healer with disgust, "are very bad, very, very bad."

"To put it mildly" said Daranni, "but splitting his soul in half won't cause the two pieces to fragment."

"No" said Bahamut, "but I think Voldemort made more than one horcrux. Each additional splitting of his soul would make it increasingly unstable until – "

" – a piece breaks off by accident when he gets hit with a killing curse" finished Daranni.

"I've always found it a little weird the way you two finish each other's sentences" said the Healer, "I forgot all about that during the years you were away."

"It just means we're well matched" said Bahamut.

"What happens now?" Daranni asked, "how will we deal with Voldemort?"

" _We_ can't do anything right now" said Bahamut, "you and I cannot leave Mt. Celestia until our regenerative year is up. Our agents, on the other hand, can act for us. With this thing – " Bahamut indicated the globe with the soul fragment in it, " – Voldemort is ours for the taking. We can use it to trace and destroy all of his other horcruxes. And that will be the end of him."

"Can it really be that easy?" muttered Daranni.

"I didn't say it would be easy" said Bahamut, "just that we now have a definite path to follow in order to get rid of the Dark Lord. And the sooner the better."

"What about the prophecy?" asked Daranni.

"Prophecy Shmophecy" scoffed Bahamut, "you know prophecies are rarely clear cut. Dumbledore never told us what his prophecy said. For all we know he got it completely wrong. If you want to be sure we can consult with our chief oracle. She will know if there is valid prophecy regarding Harry and Voldemort."

So they did. And there was. It was pretty specific too, as prophecies go. The exact wording was:

 _"The dragons shall burn the snake to ashes._  
 _No matter how the snake slithers there will be no escape._  
 _The body will be burned by the parents_  
 _And the child will burn the head."_

Upon hearing that prophecy Bahamut set his future course.

"Our people will hunt down and destroy all of Voldemort's horcruxes" said Bahamut to Daranni, "all except one." Bahamut held up the globe that had the piece of Voldemort's soul that had been in Harry's scar.

"This one we will keep" said the dragon king, "when Harry is old enough he will destroy it. If Voldemort is still disembodied when that happens he will die for good."

"And if he's regained a body before then?" asked Daranni.

"Then destroying the last horcrux will render him mortal again" answered Bahamut, "and Harry (or anyone else) can easily kill him. Remember that no matter how powerful Voldemort may be he is still just a man, while Harry is a divine dragon."

So the plan was set. But whether or not it succeeded this tale does not tell. That is another story.

THE END of The Prophecy

 **Afterword: So plans have been made to take down our favorite Dark Lord. I'm sure some of you may be disappointed by how mundane Bahamut's plan appears to be but I think that as a good ruler Bahamut has to be pragmatic about things. Since this particular matter affects his own family he will do whatever he can to deal with it and make things easier for Harry, even to the extent of arranging for Harry's final take down of Voldemort to be as easy as possible. Doesn't mean there won't be some pretty hairy events along the way though.**

 **Hmm, I do seem to like the phrase "That is another story." I'll try not to use it too often after this.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	4. Aunt T

**Hello. I'm here with a new installment of this series. I call it a series but a larger storyline is starting to emerge for me. Pretty soon we're going to move from one shots to a longer narrative because the ideas I've been having are too big for one shots (I am not the sort of writer who posts 100,000 word chapters, thank you very much). I guess that will be the start of the main story. There will probably be one or two more one shots before that happens. I'm happy people like what I've been doing so far, especially since my initial intention was just to post a one-shot. It certainly grew from there.**

 **Bit of a data dump in the first part of this one, mainly for the benefit of readers who don't play D &D.**

 **Now let me reply to some guest reviewers whom I cannot contact any other way (also non-guest reviewers):**

 **Thunder Dragon: I'm sorry to hear that things are so difficult for you. I posted your challenge though. You can find it in the Harry Potter / DC Superheroes crossover section under the title of "Thunder Dragon's Challenge: Wizards and New Gods." I hope someone picks it up.**

 **Guest (2/23/19) - It probably would be - and maybe they did. We shall see.**

 **Dragon Fan - As I said above that will be happening soon. If you can put up with one or two more one-shots the main story will probably be starting around the time Harry's Hogwarts letter would come.**

 **Kaiser Dragon - Well I'll see how it goes. I will say that I have the Tri-Wizard Tournament slated for a major role later in the story. Beyond that, we shall see. I don't have the whole thing mapped out and there will almost certainly be changes along the way.**

 **Odin's Eye - You got that right.**

 **UnknowinglyMad - Thanks for the suggestions, especially regarding the attention Harry would draw from other places. As you will see in this chapter I have started to hint at that.**

 **NooShoak - Oh yeah. When mortals fight deities it usually ends badly for them.**

 **Tzapporah - Glad you like the story. I liked your idea and made use of it.**

 **Oh, and I don't own either** ** _Harry Potter_** **or** ** _Dungeons and Dragons_** **. They belong to their respective creators.**

4) AUNT T

It's a well known fact that not all dragons are good. They are like any other race of beings, some are good, some are neutral, some are bad, and some are very, _very_ bad indeed.

It's a matter of cosmic irony that the worst of the worst is sibling to the best of the best. Some say that the guiding force of the multi-verse has a sense of humor and in order to keep a balance between good and evil it has decreed that the arch rival of Bahamut, the king of the good dragons, is none other than his own twin sister. Her name is Tiamat and she is the queen of the evil dragons.

Tiamat is often referred to as the Chromatic Dragon. She has five heads. Each one is the color of one of the classic evil dragons of the Prime Material Plane: Black, Blue, Green, Red, and White. Occasionally some reckless person will state that since Tiamat has five heads, each with its own brain, that she is actually five separate dragons who all share one body.

It should be noted that such a reckless person usually does not live very long after making this statement.

Tiamat maintains her lair on Avernus, the first plane of the Nine Hells of Baator. There, among other things, she watches over the main access way to Dis, the second of the Nine Hells. You might say that it would only be natural for a being like her to dwell in one of the Nine Hells. After all, evil is her nature. But that's not the whole story. What makes an evil being truly evil isn't that they are evil by nature but that they understand the difference between good and evil and they _choose_ to be evil (or to be more precise, since evil people rarely think that they are evil, they choose to behave contrary to what most people would perceive as "good" thereby branding themselves as "evil" in the eyes of society). The most effective tyrant is one who has a good side. It is no accident that Lucifer was an angel before he fell.

Tiamat is no exception to this rule. She does have a good side. It's buried very deep and almost never shows up. But it is there.

* * *

Harry James Potter, son of Bahamut and Daranni (formerly James and Lily Potter) was a growing dragon and he was growing fast. At 15 months when he was first brought to Mt. Celestia and had his draconic nature released by his father his dragon size was about the same as his human baby size.

On his second birthday he was a bit larger than a full grown golden retriever.

The following Halloween he had reached the size of a full grown St. Bernard.

On his third birthday he was as large as small horse.

Not that he was big yet in comparison to other dragons. Both of his parents were so large that he could still easily perch on either of their backs and would be able to do this for some time to come.

It was right after his third birthday that his parents took him to his first Dragon Summit.

Dragon Summits are rare but regular events. They happen about once a century or so. The leaders of many of the prominent dragon clans meet together to discuss dragon affairs. These may include (but are not limited to) problems clans face, proposals to better draconic lives, threats from outside (i.e. non-dragon threats), recognition for notable achievements, and so on and so on.

The summits are overseen by the Dragon Pantheon itself. In simple language these are the dragon gods. Counting Bahamut himself and his sister Tiamat there are 12 of them. The chief of these is Io, the creator god of dragonkind and Bahamut and Tiamat's parent. Below him / her / it are the other 11 deities. In addition to Bahamut and Tiamat their names are Aasterinian (Io's messenger), Astilabor (deity of hoards), Chronepsis (in charge of Fate, Death, and Judgment), Faluzure (the overseer of Energy Draining, Undeath, Decay, and Exhaustion), Garyx (god of Fire, Destruction, and Renewal), Hlal (humor and storytelling), Lendys (balance and justice), Sardior (gem dragons and psionics), and Tamara (life, light, and mercy).

For the most part the members of the Dragon Pantheon rarely attend the summits in person. They usually send ambassadors to represent their interests. Now and then, however, one or more of them will attend the summit. Bahamut and Daranni decided to attend the summit this time as neither had been to one in several centuries. They took Harry with them because they didn't want to leave him alone (even with plenty of staff and servants to look after him). They did shield him a bit from the crowds but it was inevitable that he would be seen by many other attendees. Fortunately they mostly cooed over him and congratulated the parents on having a fine young child.

As it turned out, Bahamut and Daranni weren't the only Pantheon members who were attending the summit this time. When they arrived neither of them was pleased to find out that Tiamat was also present.

"Should we leave?" Daranni whispered to Bahamut.

"No" Bahamut replied, "she won't try to do anything here. The summit is too important and too public for her (or anyone) to try to threaten or harm one of the attendees."

"That's all well and good" said Daranni, "but I'd just as soon keep Harry out of her way."

"Of course" echoed Bahamut, "There's enough at one of these summits to keep anyone busy the entire time. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to keep away from her."

Naturally it didn't work out that way. Before the end of the first day Bahamut, Daranni, and Harry came face to face with Tiamat out on the grounds of the summit area. What happened next would be talked about amongst dragonkind for a _loooooong_ time to come.

"Hello dear brother, and dear brother's mate" said Tiamat in five silky voices as all of her heads spoke together. It was true that each of her heads had its own personality and thoughts but they were also all linked mentally into one overall mind and when that mind exerted full control they would speak as one.

"Tiamat" said Bahamut politely but curtly. Harry was perched on his mother's back staring at Tiamat in fascination. The chromatic dragon noticed him quickly.

"So this is your newest brat" said Tiamat looking at Harry "interesting. He looks just like both of you. Why would I expect anything better? The universe just isn't that kind." Daranni opened her mouth to retort but before she could say anything Harry flew down from off her back and stood in front of his parents facing Tiamat.

"You have five heads" he said in a high voice that was filled with wonder at seeing such a sight. Tiamat looked at him, suddenly taken aback at both the statement and the complete innocence with which it was made.

"Yes" she managed to say.

"That's great!" the young dragon said looking up at her, "I wish I did too." All ten of Tiamat's eyes got wide when she heard that.

"Do you?" she said looking down at Harry, "why is that child?"

"It would be neat" Harry said without any hesitation, "just like you're neat."

"Am I?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" declared Harry who quickly transformed into his human self and began clapping his hands for emphasis. "Neat! Neat! Neat!" He laughed and stared up at Tiamat's five faces. Tiamat backed up a step in surprise as she watched Harry clapping his hands. Something happened in that moment that had not happened in many, many centuries – if ever. Somehow, looking down on this child who was her nephew and had just declared her to be "neat," Tiamat felt her notoriously hard and cruel heart start to soften. She crouched down to get a better look at him. As she did both Bahamut and Daranni moved forward.

"Oh relax" Tiamat snorted "I'm not going to harm your precious son." With that she proceeded to ignore the two adult dragons while lying down to get nearer to Harry.

"So" she said, "you are Harry."

"I'm Harry" he said, "who are you?"

"I'm your Aunt T" was the reply.

"Aunt T!" said Harry clapping his hands again, "Aunt T! Aunt T! Aunt T!"

"Well aren't you just the cutest thing!" declared Tiamat with laughter in her voice.

"I don't believe this" said Daranni to Bahamut as she watched the interaction between her son and sister-in-law.

"That makes two of us" murmured Bahamut.

After a few more minutes Tiamat looked up from her talk with Harry.

"How ironic" she said to the two adult dragons, "I thought I would hate any offspring of yours, but I think I'm going to enjoy being Harry's aunt."

"How... nice" said Daranni, not sure what else to say. For once there was no malice in Tiamat's faces as she looked at them.

"Isn't it?" Tiamat said as her faces all became serious, "you should be careful with him. There will be a lot of people who are going to be very interested that you have a new son. And I don't mean just in our pantheon. "

"I'm aware of that" said Bahamut, "there is always a lot of interest whenever someone powerful has a child. Daranni and I won't be letting Harry out of our sight until we're sure he can defend himself."

"Good" said Tiamat who looked down at Harry, "well nephew it was nice to meet you. Be sure to come visit me some time." She looked up at Harry's parents and laughed at the expressions of horror on their faces. "You're still so easy to wind up" she said to Bahamut before turning around and walking away.

There was a long moment where neither of Harry's parents said anything.

"That was – unexpected" Daranni finally said when she found her voice again.

"It was" Bahamut said nodding his head, "I can't remember the last time Tiamat actually was anything that resembled nice."

"She still hates us" said Daranni.

"Yes" said Bahamut, "she probably always will. But for some reason she likes Harry."

"Do you think she meant it?"

"Oddly enough, I do."

"Even if she did" said Daranni, "there is no way I will let Harry visit her in Avernus."

"Definitely not" agreed Bahamut, "let's go home. Our ambassadors will take care of any other unfinished business."

During his younger years Harry would only see his aunt on very rare occasions, and even then only under the extremely watchful eyes of his parents. Tiamat's affection for him seemed to be genuine. Every year she would send him a birthday present, one that was always harmless since it would have to pass through rigorous inspection before being allowed anywhere near Harry. The cards that went with the gifts were always signed "love from your Aunt T."

THE END of Aunt T

 **A/N - And that's that. Honestly I don't know if it's plausible in real life D &D for Tiamat to act like she does in this chapter but I like the the family dynamics it sets up here and hope you do too.**


	5. The Unexpected Address

**A/N - Okay this note is rather long but I hope you'll read it anyway before you get to the new chapter.**

 **1) I'm done with the one shots. Today I'm starting the main story. I could do a few more one shots but any of that stuff can easily be folded into a larger story. I've changed its status to "In-Progress."**

 **2) I've discovered that this will not be strictly a Harry Potter / D &D crossover. It looks like other characters from other places are going show up from time to time, starting with this very chapter. I'm not trying to do something anywhere near on the scale of Nimbus Llewelyn's _Child of the Storm_ series (a series I highly recommend btw if you haven't read it) – I'm not that ambitious – but where appropriate other characters may show up. I just hope I'm using them in a sensible and logical manner that fits the story. Anyone who has read my other current story, _Tails' TARDIS Tales_ , knows that I've done something like this before when _Sandman_ 's Destiny and Death of the Endless both showed up for guest appearances in chapter 41 of that story.**

 **3) I don't where this story is headed. I don't have an ending planned out yet. This is very unusual for me. We'll see how it goes.**

 **4) To those of you who have expressed the concern that Harry may be too powerful and Voldemort will be a pushover compared to him, your concern is a valid one. All I can say on that is Voldemort is only going to be the first opponent. There are others waiting in the wings for after he's had his turn and I intend for them to be much more of a challenge to young Harry and his family.**

 **5) I guess I should have realized when I posted Thunder Dragon's challenge that other people might ask me to do the same thing. Well I didn't. I'm flattered by your requests but I really can't post everyone's challenges. I just can't. They'll all be available in the reviews section of course. I will say that all of you sending me challenges have great story ideas. My first thought would be that YOU should write them yourselves. No one knows your ideas as well as you do and the world needs all the writers it can get.**

 **6) Thank you for all of your feedback and I'm glad people are liking the story so far.**

 **7) Okay, since you took the time to read all of that please do scroll down and enjoy the new chapter.**

 **Oh, and I don't own either** ** _Harry Potter_** **or** ** _Dungeons and Dragons_** **. They belong to their respective creators.**

5) THE UNEXPECTED ADDRESS

Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, sat in her office going through the letters that would be sent out to the newly accepted first year students for the upcoming school year. Some, like the ones being sent to pureblood children and halfbloods who were raised in magical households, would go directly to the new students without any extra fanfare. These were expected letters and the families of the students would take care of everything.

Then there were the new students who came from muggle backgrounds or were raised in muggle homes. Those would be hand delivered by a Hogwarts staff member who would introduce the new students to magic and guide them and their families through their first encounters with the wizarding world.

And finally there was that one student whose knowledge and status she wasn't at all sure about. Harry Potter, savior of the wizarding world when he was a baby, hailed as "the boy who lived" for his defeat of Lord Voldemort, yet raised for the last 10 years by his aunt and uncle in a muggle house in a muggle neighborhood. At the time Professor McGonagall had objected strongly to Harry going there but she had been overruled by her boss, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, who had decided that it was for the best that Harry be raised away from the wizarding world. The time had now come to see if Dumbledore had been right.

As each letter was prepared and addressed Professor McGonagall checked it off against the book of admitted students. Finally Harry's letter came up for addressing. McGonagall looked at it with it half an eye as it crossed her desk noting the address on it –

– Then she sat up and looked at it again, this time with both eyes.

– She blinked and looked again. No, the address had not changed.

Grabbing up the letter Professor McGonagall left her office and went straight to the headmaster's office.

"Good afternoon Minerva" said Professor Dumbledore when McGonagall arrived in his office, "what I can do for you?"

"We have a problem" said Professor McGonagall "you'd better look at this." Dumbledore took the letter from her and looked at the address. His eyes went wide when he saw it:

 _Harry James Potter_  
 _3rd Best Sleeping Chamber_  
 _Bahamut's Palace_  
 _Mt. Celestia_

Dumbledore looked up at McGonagall with a troubled expression on his face.

"This can't be right" he said.

"The spell that addresses the letters never lies" said McGonagall, "how did this happen Albus? You left Harry with his aunt and her family."

"Yes" said Dumbledore, "if this address is accurate then it would appear that at some point between then and now that little Harry was removed from the Dursleys' care. We'd better go and see Petunia. We need to find out when and why Harry left her custody and with whom."

The visit with the Dursleys was most unsatisfactory. Petunia had known nothing about Harry ever being on her doorstep. She had never seen him or had any word about him. In fact she hadn't even known that her sister was dead! No one from the wizarding world had ever told her. She already hated the magical world as it was and the fact that no one in that world had bothered to tell her that Lily was dead did not help matters. Dumbledore's protest that he had informed her of that fact in his letter was met with a very sarcastic "you didn't bother to make sure I actually _got_ the letter, did you?" He had to concede that was true.

Dumbledore and McGonagall returned to Hogwarts after their visit to the Durselys.

"What do we do now Albus?" asked McGonagall, "we're no closer to finding Harry then before we went to see Petunia., and why did you never have someone check on the boy? We would have known he was missing that much sooner."

"That wouldn't have helped us" was the reply, "since Petunia didn't know anything about Harry we would have had no clues of where to even begin looking for him. Whoever took Harry must have taken him that same night we left him at the Dursleys. Maybe they were there the whole time watching us from the shadows."

"So now what?" asked McGonagall, "Mt. Celestia is on a completely separate plane of existence. How will we even contact him?"

"That is a very good question Minerva" said Dumbledore as he stroked his beard, "the problem is that the knowledge of how travel between dimensions is known to very, very few people. Obviously whoever took Harry is one of them but as we don't know who that was that fact doesn't help us. The average witch and wizard thinks that the knowledge was lost centuries ago. This is not true but since the number of people who have such knowledge is very small – no, I'm not one of them – and they keep that knowledge to themselves it almost might as well be."

"That sounds like the Unspeakables" said McGonagall. Dumbledore nodded.

"Yes" he said, "I have heard that the Unspeakables have that knowledge. If it's true then they're the only people in Britain who do."

"Then we'll never find Harry," said McGonagall knowing how closely guarded the information in the Department of Mysteries was.

"Don't lose hope yet" said Dumbledore as his eyes twinkled at his deputy, "I said they were the only people _in Britain_ who have that knowledge."

"You obviously have someone in mind" said McGonagall, "I would appreciate it if you would just tell me who it is without all of the cryptic talk."

"Fine" said Dumbledore with a small sigh, "mostly there are only rumors, however there is one person whom I know for a fact does have the knowledge and power to travel between dimension, and has done so a number of times. That person is Dr. Stephen Strange."

"The Sorcerer Supreme?" asked McGonagall as she gave Dumbledore a sharp look. She knew of Dr. Strange by reputation but had never met him.

"Indeed" was the confirming answer.

"Yes" said McGonagall nodding to herself as she thought over the headmaster's words, "it makes sense. But will he help us? He usually deals with issues much larger than just finding a lost child."

"That is another good question" said Dumbledore, "which we will only be able to answer by contacting him. I will write him a letter later today and have Fawkes take it to him in New York City. He knows Fawkes so his defensive enchantments won't affect my phoenix."

"Do you know him personally?" asked McGonagall although she was not surprised that her boss and Dr. Strange might be acquainted. Albus did know a lot of people in a lot of places

"We've met" said Dumbledore although he did not elaborate, "I think there's a chance he'll see us."

Late that afternoon Dumbledore wrote his letter to Dr. Strange and sent if off with Fawkes. An hour later he received a very short reply:

 _Be in your office tomorrow afternoon at 3 PM your time. I will see you then._

The next day both Dumbledore and McGonagall were in the headmaster's office to await Dr. Strange's coming. Precisely at 3 PM on the dot a portal appeared out of thin air in the middle of the room. Through it stepped a man seemingly in middle age. His hair was mostly black but streaked with white. Around his body he wore a red cape which was clasped at the throat with an amulet. The portal disappeared behind him after he stepped through it.

"Stephen" said Dumbledore rising from his chair to greet the guest. "thank you for coming."

"Albus" was the reply from the newcomer as he nodded his head.

"Allow me to present my deputy, Minerva McGonagall" said the headmaster introducing the other person in the room.

"Charmed" said Dr. Strange taking McGonagall's hand and kissing the back of it.

"Please sit down" said Dumbledore, "would you like a lemon drop?"

"No thank you" answered Strange as he sat down, "your letter was not very specific as to what you needed help with, only that you had to speak to me about it face to face."

"I know" said Dumbledore, "I did not want to take the risk of the letter being intercepted."

"You think Fawkes would be intercepted?"

"Not really, but one never knows."

"Regardless" said Strange steepling his fingers, "how may I assist you?"

"I know this may seem like a small problem to you" said Dumbledore, "but we need help locating a new student. He is not where we thought he was living and we do not know how to reach where he apparently really is."

"I see" said Strange, "and who would this new student be?"

"His name is Harry Potter" said Dumbledore.

"Harry Potter" repeated Dr. Strange as he leaned back in his chair and nodded his head as if he had been expecting that answer all along, "no, you would not be able to reach him considering he does not reside on this plane of existence." McGonagall's eyes went wide while Dumbledore's twinkle seem to increase. Somehow this did not surprise him.

"You know where he is?" demanded Professor McGonagall.

"Of course I do" said Dr. Strange, "I see him fairly often as I have the honor of being one of his teachers."

"What?!" exclaimed Dumbledore half rising from his chair, "how did that happen? And why didn't you tell us?"

"For three good reasons" said Dr. Strange, "one, you never asked me. Two, who I take on as a student is nobody's business but mine, the student's, and their family's (if they're in the picture that is). And three, Bahamut and Daranni asked me to keep this information to myself until the proper time came for it to be revealed. That happens to be now. Bahamut has known for years that Harry would be invited to Hogwarts. When I got your message yesterday I strongly suspected it would be about Harry so I contacted Bahamut. He has given me permission to tell you these things now."

"But why?" asked McGonagall, "why is Bahamut so concerned about Harry anyway? What is Harry to him?"

"Harry is his son" said Dr. Strange simply.

There was a very loud silence as both Dumbledore and McGonagall tried to absorb what Dr. Strange had just told them.

"That's not possible" McGonagall finally said as she shook her head, "James and Lily – "

" – Were really Bahamut and Daranni incarnated into mortal bodies and living mortal lives" said Strange finishing the sentence for the deputy headmistress. "How much do you really know about Bahamut and his queen?"

"Not as much as I'd like" said Dumbledore, "I know Bahamut is real but there haven't been any recorded sightings of him or Daranni on Earth in centuries. Even many of the pureblood families only think of them as little more than legends now."

"Indeed" said Dr. Strange, "dragons exist on many worlds. The dragon pantheon has to oversee its people all over creation. Earth is only one such world. Are you really surprised they don't visit often?

"However that is beside the point. One thing that not many people do know is that from time to time Bahamut likes to incarnate himself into a mortal body and live a mortal life."

Dr. Strange went on to explain the ins and outs of why Bahamut would choose to live a mortal life from time to time and how it helped him be a better ruler. He might do this on any world in the Prime Material Plane. He further told them that Bahamut's most recent mortal life had been as James Potter and on this occasion Daranni had joined him on Earth as Lily Potter. When their mortal bodies were killed they were sent back to Mt. Celestia for a period of healing. Shortly after his return home Bahamut had sent one of his people back to Earth to retrieve Harry and bring him to Mt. Celestia.

"I don't understand" said McGonagall, "if James and Lily were really Bahamut and Daranni all along why didn't we know? Why didn't they ever say anything?"

"Because they didn't know" said Dr. Strange who explained how whenever Bahamut lived a mortal life all of his memories would be shut behind an unbreakable mental block so that as long as he lived that mortal life he would have no knowledge or memories of being anything other than what he appeared to be at the time.

"The same is true for Daranni" Doctor Strange finished up, "they never told anyone who they really were because as far as they knew they were really only James and Lily, a wizard and a witch of Earth. Their memories of their true selves were only restored after Voldemort killed them and sent them back to Mt Celestia.

"I see" said Dumbledore, "this is fascinating to know and most unexpected. The implications of all of this coming to light are staggering."

"That's true" said McGonagall, "but can we talk about Harry right now?"

"Yes, let's talk about Harry" said Dr. Strange, "you should be prepared for the strong possibility that he may not attend Hogwarts."

"But he has to attend" said McGonagall, "his name's been down since he was born."

"He needs to be educated to use his magic properly" said Dumbledore. Dr. Strange raised an eyebrow at him.

"Are you forgetting that I have been teaching him?" he said, "and not just me. He has many teachers in magic. He probably already knows more than your average seventh year. I bet he could pass his NEWTs right now."

"Can he really be that powerful at such a young age?" asked McGonagall trying to comprehend what Dr. Strange was telling him.

"He can" was the answer, "you must understand that Harry is a divine dragon. Yes, he was born as a mortal human – but he's not mortal anymore. Bahamut released his true self not long after bringing him to Celestia. He's a god, Albus, not a demi-god but a full god. Bahamut has always been a god. Daranni was raised to godhood by Bahamut thousands of years ago when she first became his mate. A child of two gods is also a god. Harry is such a child."

"My goodness" said McGonagall.

"Nevertheless Harry still needs to come to Hogwarts" said Dumbledore, "can you help us contact his parents about this? Could you take us to Mt Celestia?"

"Perhaps" said Dr. Strange, "I will have to speak to Bahamut and Daranni first and see if they will permit you to visit. One does not simply drop in to Bahamut's palace without an invitation."

"I would think not" said Professor McGonagall as she nodded her head in agreement, "you might as easily try to break into Buckingham Palace and surprise the Queen in her bedroom."

"That happened once" said Dr. Strange, "you're also going to have to explain _why_ he needs to come to Hogwarts. What can Hogwarts give him that he can't learn at home? And by the way Albus, the words 'it's for the greater good' had better not appear anywhere in your answer. Remember who you'll be dealing with."

"Oh, and one more thing" said Dr. Strange as he got to his feet, "Bahamut and Daranni were not happy when they found out you tried to send Harry to the Dursleys, especially when the wills of James and Lily specifically stated that Harry was not to go there. They haven't forgotten about that."

"I only meant for Harry to be safe – " Dumblefore began but Dr. Strange cut him off.

"I'm just warning you. I'm not the one you need to convince" he said as he made a gesture and muttered some words that neither Dumbledore nor McGonagall were able to make out. The portal began to reform next to him. "I will need to talk to Bahamut and Daranni about this. I will let you know what they say. Farewell until then."

Dr. Strange stepped back through the portal he had conjured which promptly vanished, leaving no sign that it had ever been there. The two remaining occupants of the office looked at each other.

"That went well" said Dumbledore. McGonagall just snorted in reply.

(To Be Continued)

 **A/N 2 - Okay just to get this out of the way: Harry WILL be going to Hogwarts.**

 **Extra disclaimer: I don't own Dr. Strange. He's a Marvel Comics property. Dumbledore needs someone of considerable power, prominence, and respect in the magical multi-verse to gain an introduction to someone like Bahamut. I thought Dr. Strange fit the bill well for that.**

 **I don't have any set schedule for updating this story. It will happen when it happens. Until then...**


	6. Welcome To The Palace

**A/N - Hello. I have a new chapter here. But first for those concerned that this will turn into a bash Dumbledore story - it won't. I know Dr. Strange was rather stern with him in the last chapter but it won't be a bashing story. Dumbledore has his flaws which he does have to deal with but in this tale he's one of the good guys. This chapter will put that fear to rest, I hope. It's fairly light in tone and hopefully enjoyable. Just because you're king doesn't mean you can't have fun.**

 **Bashing stories can be fun to read but I don't usually write them. The one exception is Dolores Umbridge but she's so incredibly bashable it's hard to avoid it with her - even Voldemort / Tom Riddle has the occasional sympathetic scene in canon, but Umbridge never does. When I bash her it's for the sake of humor (read my one-shots** ** _Indigestion_** **and** ** _Umbridge Goes To The Moon (Or Tries To)_** **to see what happens when I deal with Umbridge).**

 **Secondly though people from other places may show up now and then this story is firmly a HP / D &D crossover. That will not change.**

 **Oh, Kaiser Dragon thanks for the suggestion of having this be a story series instead of trying to make one huge story. I feel that is a very good idea and will probably adopt it.**

 **Oh, and I don't own either** ** _Harry Potter_** **or** ** _Dungeons and Dragons_** **. They belong to their respective creators. The only things that are mine are the story itself and any original characters I might come up with. Please read and review; I always appreciate feedback. Constructive criticism is welcome, however no flames please.**

6 – WELCOME TO THE PALACE

It was a few days later that Dumbledore received another letter from Dr. Strange, this time telling him to be in his office at exactly noon on the next day, July 30th, when a gateway would open that would allow him passage to Bahamut's palace.

 _Due to a prior engagement I cannot accompany you,_ the note continued, _however there will be those on the other side of the gate who will welcome you and introduce you to the dragon king and his mate. Be prepared to stay for a few days. Good luck._

Dumbledore wondered about who would be waiting for him at Bahamut's palace but he obeyed Dr. Strange's message. Just before noon the next day he was in his office with some belongings packed in a travel bag that was larger on the inside and spelled to be feather light. Professor McGonagall was with him in the office and had packed a similar bag for the trip.

"What do you suppose Mt. Celestia will really be like?" asked McGonagall, "the records I've seen are very vague about it."

"I couldn't possibly imagine" said Dumbledore, "but I think we are about to find out." And indeed even as he spoke a portal began to form in the middle of the room. It very quickly became firmly defined although neither professor could see what lay on the other side.

"It would appear that our invitation has been issued" said Dumbledore, "shall we accept it my dear?"

McGonagall nodded.

"Then if you'll take my hand" said Dumbledore, "we two shall take the adventure that is being offered to us." He held out his hand and his deputy took it. They both stepped through the portal.

Once they were through the portal they both looked around at where they had arrived. They had appeared in a very large, lavishly decorated room. The room was so large that Professor McGonagall wondered if Hogwarts itself could have fit inside of it. Despite the large size of the room there was no furniture, at least no human-sized furniture. At one end of the room there was a low platform which contained a (very) large thin mat spread over it. There were a couple of enormous arches at either end of the room which clearly led to other rooms in this place.

There were also two humans in the room who, judging by their grinning faces, were obviously waiting for them.

"Sirius Black?" said Dumbledore in astonishment as he addressed the first human.

"In the flesh" said Sirius with a little bow as his grin got even wider. McGonagall, meanwhile looked at the other person.

"Remus Lupin" she said, "why am I not surprised that you're here too?"

"Where one Marauder goes another will usually follow" said Remus with a smile to his old professor.

"What are you two doing here?" asked Dumbledore.

"We're often here" said Sirius, "I am Harry's Godfather after all and Remus is his honorary uncle."

"We know about Bahamut having been James" said Remus, "he invited us here himself soon after Sirius was released from Azkaban and renewed his friendship with us. We can come and go as we like."

"We're very close to Harry too" said Sirius, "he treats us like part of his family."

"As his Godfather you are part of his family" said Remus.

"Please don't get technical with me again" said Sirius, "you're part of the family too, even if you don't have a so-called 'official' tie."

"Why have you never told us about this?" asked Dumbledore.

"Bahamut and Daranni asked us not to tell" said Remus, "they wanted as much privacy for Harry as they could give him."

"Now however things are different" said Sirius, "Harry's parents have decided that if he goes to Hogwarts then the truth about him will inevitably come out. They want to make sure that it comes out in the best possible way for Harry."

"We don't know all of the reasons behind this" said Remus, "but Bahamut and Daranni usually know what they're doing so – "

"Only 'usually' know what we're doing?" a deep loud voice interrupted Remus who spun around toward the speaker who, for the moment, remained unseen.

"Prongs, I really hate it when you do that" said Remus.

"Sorry" said the voice again, "it must be the Marauder in me." This time Dumbledore and McGonagall heard and felt some very large footsteps enter the room and step up onto the platform. The speaker remained invisible though.

Before anyone could say anything else a second set of large footsteps entered the room and joined the first set on the platform.

"I told you we should have had some other people greet our guests for us" said second voice, "you might have taken this a bit more seriously." This voice was just as loud as the first one but rather higher in pitch. If the first voice was male this one was obviously female.

"Relax my dear" said the first voice, "a little fun won't harm us."

"I thought we were going to have to explain things in more detail to Albus and Minerva before you arrived" said Sirius.

"They're both intelligent people" said the second voice, "I'm sure they'll be able to cope."

"So Padfoot, are you going to announce us?" said the first voice.

"I'm not sure that's necessary?" asked Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling, "would I be correct in assuming that, even though you are invisible, we are already in the presence of King Bahamut and Queen Daranni?"

"As intelligent as ever Headmaster" said the second voice.

"However we have never been properly introduced" said the first voice, "at least not like this. Sirius, if you would?"

"Oh all right" said Sirius, "Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, may I present King Bahamut and Queen Daranni of Mt. Celestia."

As Sirius made the introductions Dumbledore and McGonagall saw by far the two largest dragons that either of them had ever seen become visible in front of them. Even though they had both known what they were getting into by coming here the two professors were still both overwhelmed with awe by the sight of Bahamut and Daranni in their true forms.

"Prongs, I think you broke them" said Sirius after a few moments of silence.

"I always wondered what it would be like to see our headmaster and deputy head be left speechless, even for a moment" said Bahamut, "definitely worth it." This seemed to snap McGonagall out of her daze.

"That is a James Potter statement if I ever heard one" she said, her mouth pursed in a thin line.

"There's a good reason for that" said Bahamut, "would you two feel more comfortable if we assumed our old forms?"

"I would" said McGonagall, "and thank you for doing so." Dumbledore simply nodded. Bahamut and Daranni looked at each other and then suddenly James and Lily Potter were standing in front of the two professors in place of the two dragons.

"James, Lily" said McGonagall softly as she looked at the two of them.

"Yes" said Lily, "it's us, or who we used to be – for a while."

"We don't have default human forms" said James who concentrated and suddenly an old man with a long white beard stood in his place, then a young black woman in her 20s, then a Japanese man in his 50s, then back to James again, "James and Lily Potter are simply two forms we can choose from when we wish to appear human. For you they are appropriate so that is who you are seeing. For myself when I choose to wander a mortal world in human guise I most often will go in the form of an old hermit. My inner seven usually accompany in the form of canaries."

"I've heard that story" said Dumbledore, "in the _Chronicles of Merlin_ he wrote that he once encountered you in that form when he was traveling through a forest. He wrote that he would not have known you to be anything other than what you appeared to be except that you were attacked by bandits,"

"Yes" said James, "much to their sorrow. I remember that. Merlin was a good man. We spent a few days trading knowledge with each other before we parted company."

"So does Harry also not have a default human form?" asked McGonagall, "Dr. Strange did say he wasn't mortal anymore."

"Harry does have a default human form" said Lily, "since he was human and mortal _first_ it has carried over into his life here after we released his true draconic self and made him fully one of us. Whenever he decides to be human he automatically assumes the form he was born with. If he wants to look like someone else he has to deliberately concentrate to change himself."

"Speaking of Harry" said Dumbledore, "where is he? We were hoping to meet him."

"Ah" said James, "I'm afraid that will have to wait a little longer. Harry's not here right now. He's at Longbottom Manor for his joint birthday party with Neville."

"He and young Neville are friends?" asked Dumbledore.

"Best friends actually" said Sirius, "a lot like me and James were. Frank and Alice often tell me that they can easily see the resemblance."

"Yes about that" said McGonagall looking at James and Lily with a shrewd expression, "it was nothing short of a miracle when Frank and Alice recovered from their Cruciatus comas, especially after all the best healers had declared them to be incurable."

"I wouldn't say _all_ of the best healers" said James with a mischievous grin.

"Celestial healing is of a higher order than Earth healing" said Lily in a more serious tone, "after we heard what had happened to Alice and Frank we sent one of our top healers to see them. It had to be done secretly because Celestial healing methods are not usually meant to be used on mortals. Since Alice is Harry's Godmother it provided her with a connection that allowed for her to be healed and, by extension, Frank as well."

"I see" said Dumbledore, "do they know?"

"About us? Yes they know" said James, "they're part of a very small group of people who do."

"Who else knows?"

"That doesn't matter right now" said James, "look, it's very nice to see you both again Albus, Minerva, and hopefully this isn't a one time occasion."

"However" said Lily, "before we go any further we have something we need to ask you." Suddenly she turned back into Daranni. At the same time James turned back into Bahamut. The two dragons looked down at their guests.

"Headmaster" asked Bahamut in a deep voice, "why did you send Harry to the Dursleys when our wills specifically stated that he was not to go there?

Albus Dumbledore was many things. He was well aware of his position in the wizarding world and the power he held. He was also aware that some people (rightly) perceived him to be quite manipulative at times, as well as frustratingly cryptic with answers to questions if he felt the situation called for it. However, his slightly dotty grandfatherly persona notwithstanding, he was not a fool. Looking up at both Bahamut and Daranni in all of their intimidating majesty he realized that if he were to have any hope of a positive outcome to this meeting that the only thing that would do was (as they say in the muggle courts) the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Fortunately for him the truth was not something that he felt he had to be ashamed of. He held up his wand.

"I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, swear on my life and magic" he intoned, "that the following statement I am about to make is the truth. So mote it be."

There was a flash as the oath was accepted. Dumbledore paused for a moment as he gathered his thoughts before taking a breath.

"I sent Harry to the Dursleys" he said, "because it was the safest place I could think of for him to go to in order to be protected from Death Eaters. Voldemort was gone, but in the immediate aftermath of his defeat his followers were still free. Some of them were almost as bad as he was. Think of Bellatrix Lestrange who tortured the Longbottoms to insanity, or Lucius Malfoy who was one of Voldemort's most trusted followers and was one of his biggest financial backers. They would have certainly tried to get revenge for their master's defeat by killing Harry if they could. It would not matter to them that he was a baby. Many of his followers did much worse than kill a child. I could ward a wizarding home all the way up to the heavens and I still couldn't be absolutely sure Harry would be safe.

"The only option I could think of that I could be sure would protect Harry was through the use of blood wards that I erected around the Dursley house. Lily's sacrifice allowed me to create those wards so that where her blood dwelled, meaning her sister Petunia, Harry would be safe from any wizard who would harm him.

"Did I know that Petunia hated Lily? Of course I did. Would she hate Harry? I hoped she wouldn't but I'm not going lie about this. I was well aware that probably neither she nor her husband would treat Harry well. But at least he would be alive. You can heal from abuse, but dead is dead. Maybe you have the power to bring the dead back to life but I don't. I would be damned before I let Harry die, not if there was any way at all in which I could protect him.

"No, it was far from ideal, but it was the best I could think of at the time. I didn't mean for it to be long term. What I really hoped for was that the Death Eaters would all be arrested and sent to Azkaban. Once that was done I would have been able to remove Harry from the Dursleys and give him to an appropriate wizarding family to raise. It would have been safe to do that by then. But it didn't work out that way. Bellatrix Lestrange was arrested but Lucius Malfoy managed to worm his way out of trouble, mainly through bribery I think, and he wasn't the only one who managed to escape justice.

"So in the end it seemed like there was no other option to ensure Harry's safety than to leave him with his aunt and her family. It wasn't a very good situation and I know it's not what you really wanted to hear from me but it's all I can say, and it's the truth."

Dumbledore held up his wand and said " _lumos_." The wand lit up brightly showing that he had indeed been speaking the truth.

Bahamut and Daranni exchanged glances.

"Did you ever check up on him?" asked Bahamut.

"No" said Dumbledore, "of course you know that I never did because if I had I would have known that he wasn't there."

"Why didn't you?" pressed Bahamut.

"I knew that Petunia hated the wizarding world" said Dumbledore, "so in my letter to her I promised her that she and her family would not be bothered by visits from anyone from our world – as long as Harry was in good health and being well cared for. I had charmed devices in my office that were tied to Harry and they told me that he was alive and healthy so I assumed that the Dursleys had taken my letter to heart and were taking good care of him."

"And if they hadn't been?" asked Daranni.

"Then I or someone I sent would have gone to the Dursleys to see what was going on there and, if necessary, deal with the problem. If the situation had been truly bad then I would have had him removed from there. As that never seemed to be needed I thought everything was fine."

The two dragons looked at each other again and seemed to be having a silent conversation with each other. Eventually Daranni looked down at Dumbledore.

"All right" she said, "I can accept what you've said. I may not like it very much but I do believe that you were trying your best to keep Harry safe."

"As do I" said Bahamut, "I know that sometimes there are no good choices. I'm well aware of what doing things for 'the greater good' really means."

"You would be" said a serious Dumbledore, "as a ruler I'm sure there have been times when you've had to act that way."

"Yes there have" said Bahamut with a nod, "so now that we've settled that question Albus, Minerva, allow me to welcome you to my palace. If you will accompany myself and Daranni to a less formal setting we can continue talking there. We have to much to discuss."

(To Be Continued)

 **A/N - And that's that for now. The story of Bahamut and Merlin is adapted from a story about a sage meeting Bahamut while he was in the guise of an old hermit that is mentioned in the original D &D _Monster Manual_ from the 1970s.**

 **Until next time...**


	7. Terrace Talk

**A/N - Here is the next chapter of the story. It's mostly chat, but it's important chat.  
**

 **I see that this story just topped 12,000 views. That's awesome. Thanks for reading and I hope you continue to do so and enjoy it.**

 **Oh, and I don't own either** ** _Harry Potter_** **or** ** _Dungeons and Dragons_** **. They belong to their respective creators. The only things that are mine are the story itself and any original characters I might come up with. Please read and review; I always appreciate feedback. Constructive criticism is welcome, however no flames please.**

7 – TERRACE TALK

"Padfoot, Moony" said Bahamut, "please be so kind as to bring our guests to the back terrace. Darrani and I will meet you there soon."

"Yes Prongs" said Sirius. The two dragons turned around and left the room through the archway from which they had entered earlier. Once they had left Sirius and Remus both held out brooms to Dumbledore and McGonagall.

"You'll want these" said Remus.

"Is it that far?" asked McGonagall.

"It's around the other side of the palace" said Sirius.

"Surely we can walk" said Dumbledore,

"Headmaster, this a _dragon-sized_ palace" said Remus. At that Dumbledore nodded and reached out to take one of the brooms.

Soon all four humans were flying through the rooms of Bahamut's palace. It quickly became clear to Dumbledore and McGonagall exactly how large the palace really was. If they had tried to walk the whole way to wherever they were going it would have taken a long time, possibly hours. The size of the rooms made the two professors feel almost like mice or even insects by comparison.

"I'm glad we're not walking" said Dumblefore from his broom, "these old bones of mine would not like such a long walk." Although they were flying at steady pace it wasn't so fast that they couldn't talk to each other as they flew along.

"No kidding" said Sirius as he remembered his first visit to the palace.

"So who else is Harry friends with?" asked McGonagall from her broom.

"Well" said Remus, "Augusta Longbottom is very good friends with Amelia Bones so Harry and Neville know Susan because of that. And where Susan Bones goes Hannah Abbott invariably follows along."

"He has several friends from Ottery St. Catchpole" said Sirius, "the Diggorys and the Longbottoms are long-time friends so Harry knows Cedric pretty well, even if Cedric is older than him. Then there's the Lovegoods. Harry and Luna are very good friends. And finally there's the Weasley twins, Fred and George. They, Harry, and Neville hit it off the very first time they met. They're great friends now – and pranking buddies." Sirius grinned as he said that last part. Professor McGonagall groaned.

"They sound like a new generation of Marauders" she said, "Fred and George Weasley are a handful as it is, but if you're going to add two others who like to do pranks with them? Hogwarts won't survive that." Sirius and Remus laughed.

"I am glad young Harry has so many good friends" said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling, "but I'm curious. If Harry is friends with the Weasley twins what about Molly and Arthur's two youngest?"

"He's not really friendly with Ronald and Ginevra" said Sirius, now not smiling but not frowning either, "don't misunderstand me, they don't hate each other or anything foolish like that. The problem is that Ginevra has an enormous crush on Harry because of who he is, but is usually too shy to say very much to him. Ronald also sees him mainly as the famous 'boy-who-lived.' Harry doesn't much care for that."

"Neither of them see him as just Harry" said Remus, "they see the image rather than the person. If, however, they could get over that then they might become friends. They're not bad kids after all."

"If Bahamut and Daranni really intend to reveal the truth about Harry and themselves" said McGonagall, "that won't help. That will just confirm Harry's unique status to Ronald and Ginevra and make it harder for them to see the real person, er dragon and those two will hardly be alone in our world in thinking that."

"Maybe" said Remus, "no one says they have to be friends with each other. They were invited to the birthday party though."

"That's nice" said Dumbledore, "I imagine there are some other kids too?"

"There are" said Sirius, "we'll talk about it later. We've here."

They had reached the back terrace of the palace. It was dragon-sized, just like everything else in the palace. In this case there was room for several dragons to be there without any crowding. However it was clear that today at least, others would be using the terrace. There were several human-sized chairs on the terrace arranged in a circle around a human-sized coffee table. It was obvious who the chairs were meant for but since their hosts were absent none of the humans present sat down. McGonagall walked toward the edge of the terrace and looked at the scenery as it went sliding by.

"Is the land moving?" asked McGonagall, "or is the palace moving?"

"The palace is moving" answered Remus, "it travels constantly among the first four planes of Mt. Celestia so you rarely see the same landscape."

"My goodness" McGonagall said.

"It's something, isn't it?" said Sirius.

"It is" said Dumbledore, "in all my years I've never seen anything quite like it."

They all watched the passing scenery for a few more minutes before they were joined again by Bahamut and Daranni.

"Sorry to keep you waiting" said Bahamut, "we had to see to a couple of things before coming out here. Now, please, sit everyone."

Both dragons took on their James and Lily forms and took two of the seats. The others sat down as well.

"May we offer you some tea?" asked Lily as a full tea service appeared on the coffee table along with a several other plates piled high with various finger foods and snacks. Once everyone had been served the two hosts leaned back in their chairs and looked at their guests.

"I know etiquette usually calls for some small talk before business" said James, "but we started our business back in the audience chamber and this is simply a continuation of it so let's dive right in, shall we?"

"It's your home" said Dumbledore as he sipped his tea.

"Very well" said James, "Daranni and I have talked a lot about Harry's education. You need to understand that there is not very much the standard Hogwarts curriculum can teach him."

"Dr. Strange did mention that" said Dumbledore, "he said that Harry could probably pass his NEWTs right now if he were to take them."

"That's right" said Lily, "but that's not all. When you take into account Harry's position in life both now and in the future there are a lot of other things he has to learn. Things involved in running a kingdom for instance, such as statecraft, politics, economics, defense, law, and all of the other things that go into ruling a kingdom."

"He's your heir then?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes, and no" said James, "no in that he is not first in line to my throne if that should ever be necessary. I have other children who are older than Harry although he is my youngest child by several centuries and the only one who currently lives here at the palace. He does have his place in the line of succession of course but it is unlikely he will succeed me some day."

"However," James continued, "all of my other children have their own realms. Harry won't be any different. He will have his own realm to rule some day."

"Also" said Lily, "don't forget that, considering what he is, he'll someday also have clerics who will serve him and his worshipers. Of course my mate and I will also help him there."

"That" said McGonagall with a raised eyebrow at the thought of someone having worshipers, "is not something that Hogwarts students usually have to deal with – although I can think of one or two who have thought of themselves as being more than human."

"Indeed" said Lily with a nod, "also we haven't limited his education just to his dragon self. Since he was born human we felt it would be good for him to learn about his human side too. He's had a primary school education and I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually decides to go to a university on Earth."

"He's also learning human self-defense" said James, "he will not always be under our protection. Eventually he will strike out on his own. All of our children have. If he chooses to live in the human world for some of the time we want him to be able to defend himself. You know that Dr. Strange has been one of his magic teachers. He has also been learning blade fighting (sword in particular), hand-to-hand combat, martial arts – he specifically decided he wanted to learn Karate – as well as marksmanship, so far with archery but in future, although not for some time yet, he will also learn about guns."

"Guns?" said McGonagall in surprise, "you have guns on Mt. Celestia?" James laughed.

"No, we don't" he said, "Sirius and Remus will be arranging lessons for him on Earth when the time comes for that."

"All of that is a lot of stuff to learn" said Dumbledore.

"It is" said Lily, "but he's not learning it all at once. Everything in due time."

"But do you see now" said James, "why we say that there isn't very much he can learn from the regular Hogwarts courses that he hasn't already learned."

"I am starting to see that, yes" said Dumbledore, "that is a pity. We would have loved to have him come to Hogwarts."

"He still might" said Lily surprising both professors a little, "there is one reason why we would consider sending him, and that's so he can be around other kids his own age. There aren't very many of those around here. That's why he spends as much time on Earth as he does. Sirius and Remus usually look after him there though we're never out of touch with them."

"And that brings us to a proposal that we have" said James, "Harry can attend Hogwarts and be sorted like any student would be. But we will continue to oversee his education. If you're willing to allow it we will send several of his teachers to Hogwarts with him. They will continue Harry's training there."

"Would the other students also be able to learn from Harry's teachers?" asked Dumbledore, his eyes sparkling with interest.

"Oh yes" said Lily, "that is the other reason we are proposing this. There's a lot of older magic that Earth has lost that we can bring back. The Hogwarts students can be the first to learn it."

"It would be voluntary" said James, "but I like to think that many of your students would avail themselves of the opportunity we would present to them."

"I think they would too" said Dumbledore, "especially the Ravenclaws."

"What would they be learning?" asked McGonagall.

"Many things" said James, "we will give your more specific information before you return to Earth but I guarantee you will not be disappointed."

"We will be around too" said Lily, "quite a lot I think."

"What do you mean?" asked McGonagall, "parents do not usually join their children at Hogwarts."

"Yes, well" said James, "I intend to create a semi-permanent portal between here and Hogwarts so that Daranni and I can keep a close eye on Harry. With the truth about him and us about to come out we would feel better having the extra security."

"But why are you going to reveal yourselves?" asked McGonagall, "it seems to me that you'll be complicating all of your lives if you do that."

"Because sooner or later it's going to happen anyway" said Lily, "Harry is a celebrity. Although the press has been kept away from him so far it will be a lot harder to do that once he starts Hogwarts. We don't want some reckless reporters sticking their noses in where they don't belong and spreading rumors about him based on half-truths and misinformation. If the truth must come out then let it come out in a manner over which we have some control."

"In addition" said James, "it has been centuries since Daranni and I publically visited Earth. If we reveal ourselves and show that we are in fact real and not legends it will give Harry a certain amount of diplomatic protection. As for physical protection we are going to be sending some of our people to watch over him at Hogwarts. This is not a slur against Hogwarts security but he is our son and I won't take chances with his safety. Don't worry about his guards; they are very discreet and won't be in your way. Most of the time you won't even know they're there."

"All right" said Dumbledore, "but I hope you're sure about this. Like Minerva said, it may very well complicate things for all of us."

"It may" said James, "but what's life without a few complications? They spice things up."

"That is definitely James Potter talking" muttered McGonagall, "and not Bahamut."

"Now that we've squared all of that away" said James, "we need to talk about Voldemort and how he survived."

The atmosphere on the terrace immediately changed. It got a lot more serious as McGonagall sat up with a small gasp and Dumbledore's twinkle disappeared.

"He's alive?" McGonagall said.

"You could say that" said James, "if you want to call it living. I would prefer that he stopped living altogether."

"So would I" said Dumbledore.

"Then you know how he survived?" asked Lily.

"No" said Dumbledore, "I've suspected that he did but I don't know how."

"Well we do" said James, "and we'll tell you, but you won't like it at all."

(To Be Continued)

 **A/N - That's that for now. I stopped it where I did because the conversation of Voldemort's survival would mainly be a rehashing of stuff that was talked about in Chapter 3 and would be redundant.**

 **I will not be bashing Ron or Ginny in this story however that doesn't mean they're going to be friends with Harry. It was implied in this chapter that Harry is aware of his fame but although he accepts it he doesn't really care for it. Ginny was a huge fan-girl at this point and when Ron and Harry first met in canon Ron acted a lot like a fan would. Remember that in book 1 Mrs. Weasley warned Fred and George not to ask Harry about Voldemort and the night his parents died. Mrs. Weasley may often be overprotective and overbearing but in this case she was absolutely right. Yet when Ron meets Harry on the train what does he do? He asks Harry about his scar and what happened that night. So in this story whether or not Ron and Ginny become his friends will depend on if they can learn to see Harry as just Harry and not as an icon. Unfortunately the pending release of his true heritage won't help but we'll see.**

 **Until next time...**


	8. An Unexpected Reunion

**I don't own either** ** _Harry Potter_** **or** ** _Dungeons and Dragons_** **. They belong to their respective creators. The only things that are mine are the story itself and any original characters I might come up with. Please read and review; I always appreciate feedback. Constructive criticism is welcome, however no flames please.**

8 – AN UNEXPECTED REUNION

"Are you sure about this?" Daranni asked Bahamut.

"It has to be done" said Bahamut, "as much for my own peace of mind as for his sake. I owe it to him. And it needs to be done now before the general press announcement about us is released."

"All right" said Daranni, "but I'm going with you."

"It's not dangerous" said Bahamut.

"I have my own reasons" said Daranni.

"Very well" said Bahamut, "let's go before I change my mind.

* * *

Severus Snape, Potions Master of Hogwarts, was not a happy man. This was nothing new. Honestly he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt happy – if he ever had. Unfortunately, with the new school year only three weeks away he was extra unhappy because this upcoming year would see the arrival at Hogwarts of Harry Potter, the son of his hated rival James Potter. No doubt the child would be an arrogant spoiled brat who had been pampered his whole life and would strut around Hogwarts like he owned it.

Snape smiled grimly. Not on his watch. Oh no, he would put that Potter spawn in his place. What's more he would enjoy doing it. Revenge would be sweet, even if it was one degree removed from the actual target.

As Snape moved about his potions lab there was a knock on the door.

"Enter" Snape called out. The door opened and Dumbledore came in.

"Ah, Severus" said Dumbledore, "I'm so glad you're here. You have visitors."

"I do?" asked Snape, surprised as he was not expecting anyone, "well send them in."

"I'm afraid you'll have to go outside to see them my boy" said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling more than usual, "they're not exactly able to come down here to see you."

"What do you mean they can't come down here?" said Severus in annoyance, "who are these people."

"Oh I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise" said Dumbledore, twinkling even more than before (if that was possible) "but I would strongly urge you to make haste to meet them. They're not the sort of guests you should keep waiting."

"Fine" said Snape as he went to the nearby sink to wash his hands, "I'll be up soon."

"I'll let them know" said Dumbledore and he left the room.

A few minutes later Snape headed up from the castle dungeons to the front door of Hogwarts, his robes billowing out behind him and a sneer on his face as he went to greet his guests. He went through the front door of Hogwarts –

– And stopped dead where he was as he saw his guests for the first time.

"Greetings Professor Severus Snape" said a deep voice. Snape looked up, up, up until he saw the heads of the two biggest dragons he had ever seen in his life. One had platinum scales and the other was silver. Instinctively he stepped back and reached for his wand.

"Relax" said the platinum dragon, "we mean you no harm. We simply wish to speak with you. I am King Bahamut of Mt. Celestia and this is my mate Queen Daranni."

"Greetings professor" said Daranni. Her own eyes twinkled as if laughing at some secret joke.

"Greetings your majesties" said Snape with a slight bow, "please forgive my manners but I was not expecting to meet anyone like the two of you."

"Do you know of us?" asked Bahamut.

"Yes, but only as legends" said Snape, "I did not realize you were real. To what do I owe your visit?"

"That is telling" said Bahamut, "come walk with us Professor so that we may talk more comfortably."

The three of them moved away from the front doors of Hogwarts. They walked until they reached the shore of the lake. Well Bahamut and Daranni walked quite slowly and Snape walked as quickly as he could to keep up with them, even breaking out into a jog now and then.

"This will do" said Bahamut as he looked around the area, "it's been a long time since we were last here my dear" he said to Daranni who just nodded. Bahamut turned back to look at Snape who was now standing looking up at him.

"Severus Snape" said Bahamut, "the reason I have come here today is to apologize to you for my actions against you in the past."

Snape's eyes widened in shock. Of all of the things Bahamut might have said to him an apology was not one he was expecting – and he didn't even know what the dragon was apologizing to him for.

"I, I don't understand" said Snape in a halting manner, "I'm not aware of any actions that you have taken against me."

"No you wouldn't be" said Bahamut calmly, "but you will. Allow me to tell you a little story. I think you'll find it to be enlightening." Snape nodded.

"The legends about us are true" said Bahamut, "I am the king of what people refer to as 'good' dragons and Daranni has been my mate and queen for many thousands of years. As you probably realize we are immortal.

"Now and then I like to incarnate myself into a mortal body and live a mortal life. This gives me a better understanding of mortals and the lives they lead. As an immortal, and a god as well, it is very easy to lose perspective on the lives of those whom I rule and those who worship me.

"I have done this numerous times on many different worlds. When I do this I seal away all of my memories up until that point behind an unbreakable mental barrier. What this means is that while I live that mortal life I have no knowledge of any other life or recollection that I am anything other than what I appear to be at that time. After my mortal life ends I return to Mt. Celestia, resume my true form, and regain all of my sealed memories.

"Are you following me so far?"

"Yes" said Snape and he was beginning to understand what was going on, "the only reason I can think for you to tell me this is that in your last mortal life you must have been someone I knew."

"You always were a clever one Severus" said Daranni, "normally when my mate lives a mortal life I stay behind on Mt. Celestia and rule as his regent. This time, however, I went with him. You knew both of us rather well."

Snape stared at them both in shock, his mind racing. Why were they telling him this? Unless – it would explain – Could they possibly have been – ?

"Were you my parents?" he finally said. Daranni gave him a sad smile.

"No Severus" she said a little sadly, "we were not your parents."

"It would almost be easier if we had been your parents" said Bahamut with a wry chuckle, "but no, I was not your father and Daranni was not your mother. Can you not think of anyone else that you knew whom is now dead that you might want – ?" Bahamut stopped and looked at Snape in an expectant manner. Snape looked back in bewilderment for a long moment before it suddenly snapped into place and his eyes got wide.

"Potter!" he snarled in sudden anger and surprise, "you're James Potter!"

"No" said Bahamut sternly, "I _was_ James Potter, but I am not now. There is a big difference."

"Do tell" sneered Snape, "have you come back to torment me that even death can't stop you? Isn't it enough that you made my life hell for years? And that you stole away the girl I loved and got her killed? Can't you leave me in peace even now?"

Bahamut sighed.

"Have you forgotten what I said earlier?" asked Bahamut, "when I live a mortal life all of my memories from before then are sealed away so I have no knowledge that I am anything other than what I appear to be. Hence when you knew me I was only James Potter and nothing else.

"And that is why I am here Severus, and why I came apologize to you. I am Bahamut, king of the good dragons. I am lawful good and I stand for the good and the light. If I had known who and what I really was back when I was James Potter I never would have treated you the way I did. What's more I also would have stopped the other Marauders from treating you as we did. True, you did give as good as you got – and I commend you for defending yourself – but it doesn't change the fact that what we did to you was _wrong!_

"Furthermore, most of the time we were the aggressors. Four on one is not good odds or fair at all. I cannot speak for Sirius, Remus, or Peter but for myself I am deeply of ashamed of what we did to you. We were bullies to you and there is no excuse for that. For what it is worth I am very sorry."

At this Severus Snape had to stop in surprise. This was not James Potter behavior at all. The James Potter he remembered would never have apologized to him like this. He would never have admitted to being wrong at all. No, to James Potter he was just 'Snivellus,' his Slytherin enemy and potential Death Eater, even if he had saved his life from a werewolf once.

There was a long silence as Snape stood before the two dragons, his mind whirling as his hatred for James Potter warred with the fairer part of his mind that was glad to receive an apology from the likes of Bahamut.

"Severus" said Daranni quietly, "I must apologize too."

"Lily" said Severus suddenly as he looked at her, "you were Lily."

"I was" said Daranni lowering her head in acknowledgment. Snape's face heated up and he looked away from Daranni.

"I'm sorry" he muttered.

"I forgave you a long time ago" said Daranni.

"What do you have to apologize to me about?" asked Snape in a low voice.

"Even if we hadn't fallen out" said Daranni, "I could never have been yours. This has nothing to do with you. I am Bahamut's mate and he is mine. Throughout time and all planes of existence we are bound. We are one. That is why I must apologize. I know you loved me – but it could never have been and for that I am sorry."

There was a long silence at this point as the two dragons looked at Snape and waited for his response. As for the potions master he seemed to not know what to say for a while. He didn't know how to feel about any of this so eventually he fell back into his usual snarkiness to hide his confusion.

"So this makes it all better?" Snape finally sneered at the two dragons, although without his usual malice.

"That's up to you" said Bahamut, "I can't force you to forgive me. Only you can decide that for yourself. However I can say this." Bahamut placed his head down until it was right in front of Snape. His expression became truly frightening at that moment. The professor stepped back a few steps as he realized that the dragon king could have swallowed him whole if he wished.

"Don't even think" Bahamut hissed, "of trying to revenge yourself on Harry for what I and others did to you. If you want to continue to hate me that is your choice. But Harry never harmed you. Harry wasn't even born yet. You've never even met him. I will never countenance you taking out your anger on him. I am good – but good doesn't necessarily mean nice. Consider yourself warned."

"Severus" said Daranni now placing her head alongside Bahamut's, "I forgive you for calling me a mudblood. I also forgive you for any other things you might have done in the war that could have impacted me. I will not forgive you if you try to pick on my son."

"So what then?" sneered Snape, falling back into his usual way of emotional self-defense, "we should just let him strut around Hogwarts like he owns the place? Another arrogant spoiled pampered princeling Potter who thinks he's above the rules?"

"Certainly not!" roared Bahamut, "legitimate discipline is one thing and neither of us has a problem with that, but bullying will not be tolerated."

"And my son is in no way spoiled or pampered" said Daranni, "neither of us would allow that. Yes he is a prince. It's called circumstances of birth. Deal with it Severus. He does live a good life but we have not pampered him. He knows well the value of a good education and we both instilled a good work ethic in him. He knows that despite his position things will not simply be handed to him."

"Spoiled pampered princes usually grow up to be tyrants" said Bahamut, "I will not tolerate that in any of my children and Harry is no exception."

"My mate and I came here today to try to mend fences with you" said Daranni, "we wanted to tell you the truth now. In a few days the truth about Harry will become common knowledge. Despite what you may think, Severus, I do still care a bit about you and I didn't want you to be blind-sided by the news. I urge you to think about what we've discussed. And one more thing in case you're still thinking of ignoring our warning about leaving Harry alone. In addition to us Harry also has an aunt who is very fond of him and will not take kindly to any abuse he might suffer. She will respond much more harshly than either Bahamut or I will if Harry is attacked."

"Oh?" asked Snape, still sneering a little, "and who would this aunt be Lily? I know it's not your sister Petunia."

"No" said Bahamut, "she's actually my sister Tiamat – oh I see you've heard of her" Bahamut added as he saw Snape's eyes go wide and his jaw start to drop. "She doesn't like me any more than you did" the dragon continued, "but as my mate said she likes Harry a lot. Trust me, you really don't want to piss her off."

"I think we're done here" said Daranni, "there's nothing more to discuss. Think about what we said Severus. Really think about it, and try to let the past go, for your own sake at least."

"Goodbye Severus" said Bahamut, "I suggest you take several steps back away from us unless you want to be unceremoniously taken to my palace when we leave. I'd send you right back here but you might not enjoy it."

"Dear, don't tease him" said Daranni before turning back to Snape, "goodbye Severus. Believe it or not it was good to see you again. Take care of yourself."

A bright light was starting to appear around the two dragons and it got brighter very quickly. Automatically Snape took several steps away from Bahamut and Daranni and threw his hands up to shield his eyes from the blinding light.

A moment later and the light was gone. Snape uncovered his eyes to find that both dragons had completely vanished. The only sign that they had been there at all were the large footprints in the ground.

Severus Snape, Potions Master of Hogwarts, scowled as he thought over the conversation he had just had. What was he going to do now about Harry Potter?

* * *

"Do you think it helped?" asked Daranni as she and Bahamut reappeared in their palace.

"I don't know" said Bahamut, "I guess we'll find out in time."

"Thank you for not calling him 'Snivellus' today" said Daranni.

"James Potter would have done that" said Bahamut, "that really isn't a nice nickname. I won't use it again."

The two dragons went to the back terrace of the palace and watched the scenery pass by for a while.

"Do you think we should have told Severus that Harry really doesn't need to be protected from him?" asked Daranni, "he's already more powerful than Severus is."

"Yes but he's also still a child" said Bahamut, "and Snape is a teacher."

"Very true" replied Daranni, "very true."

(To Be Continued)

 **A/N - So an inevitable meeting with Professor Snape has just happened. But will he heed the warnings and leave Harry alone? We shall see in due time (actually I haven't decided about this. There are story possibilities either way. What do YOU think?)**


	9. Flying In Eternity

**A/N: PLEASE READ THIS NOTE FIRST!**

 **Hello everyone. I know it's been a long time since the last chapter but the new one is finally here. But before we get into it I have to mention something.**

 **What you're about to read in this chapter is a bit of an experiment I wanted to try. It's a crossover with my other long fic.** ** _Tails' TARDIS Tales_** **. Basically there is a section of this chapter where the two fics. meet. I wanted to see if I could write the same scene (with the same dialogue) from two different perspectives in two separate stories. One version would be published here and the other version in the other story.**

 **I had the idea to do this quite a while back but didn't think I would because if I were to do it I would want to publish both chapters at the same time and it didn't look like both stories would line up in such a way that I could do that.**

 **Well surprise, surprise! Both stories did reach the same point at the same time so I decided to take a crack at it after all. Was it a success? I don't know but it was fun to do.**

 **Another reason I did it is kind of to show how sometimes you can meet a person – maybe on a plane, a bus, a train, a park bench, etc. – whom you'll have a good conversation with and really connect with at that moment. But afterwards you both go your separate ways and you never see each other again. This is kind of like that and it allows me to crossover four different worlds at once!**

 **Congratulations Chelseakitsune for becoming this story's 200th follower.**

 **Congratulations Thunder Dragon for posting the 100th comment on this story.**

 **Thanks everyone for the comments on the last chapter. I'm glad people liked the encounter with Professor Snape. His future role in the story is still undetermined.**

 **This story has now passed 20,000 views!**

 **So, I don't own 1)** ** _Harry Potter_** **, 2)** ** _Dungeons and Dragons_** **, 3)** ** _Doctor Who_** **, or 4)** ** _Sonic The Hedgehog_** **. They all belong to their respective creators. The only things that are mine are the story itself and any original characters I might come up with. Please read and review; I always appreciate feedback. Constructive criticism is welcome, however no flames please.**

 **"Normal speech"**

 ** _"Parseltongue"_**

9 – FLYING IN ETERNITY

Harry Potter was 11 years old. He had celebrated his birthday just a few weeks ago and now it was almost time for him to leave for Hogwarts. It had been an eventful month since his birthday. Sirius and Remus had taken him to Diagon Alley on the 1st of August and he had been almost mobbed by well-wishers wanting to shake his hand when they had first arrived. The rest of the trip had been smoother though.

At Gringotts bank he'd been informed of his full holdings as the Potter heir. His human family was quite wealthy although until he turned 17 he would only have access to his trust vault. This, however was more than enough for his needs on Earth.

At the Magical Menagerie it had first seemed like he would not be able to buy a pet as almost all of the animals in the shop freaked out at the sight of him. Harry guessed they must have been able to sense his true nature. However there were two exceptions. The first one was a beautiful snowy owl who took one look at him and flew over to perch on his right shoulder as if claiming him for her own.

"Well hello" said Harry, "you're beautiful. Do you want to come with me?" The owl barked an affirmative reply and nuzzled Harry.

"Wow" said the shopkeeper coming over to them, "you're the first person she's allowed to even get near her. I'll give you a great deal if you take her."

"Okay" said Harry, "what's her name?"

"That's for you to decide" was the reply.

The other exception occurred as Harry was walking toward the counter to pay for the owl.

 _"Your highness"_ a voice hissed at him. He stopped abruptly and turned toward the voice in surprise. He was standing in front of an aquarium with a mesh top. Looking up at him with intelligent eyes from inside of the aquarium was a greenish / yellowish lizard.

 _"Hello"_ said Harry, _"and who might you be?"_ He had no problem understanding the lizard as it spoke perfect Dragon which, as Harry had been taught years ago, was the original language of reptiles everywhere. All reptiles, from lizards to turtles to snakes to everything else, spoke Dragon. The human name for the language was "Parseltongue" and humans who spoke it were called "Parselmouths." In Britain it was largely thought to be a "dark" talent but Harry knew better. The talent itself wasn't dark or light it simply was. What you did with it was what mattered.

 _"My name is Raja"_ said the lizard as it dipped its head.

 _"And what are you?"_ asked Harry, _"I've never seen a lizard like you before."_

 _"That's not surprising"_ was the reply, _"I'm a Dragon of sorts. I'm a Komodo Dragon. We're not native to this part of Earth."_ Harry nodded.

 _"What can I do for you Raja?"_ Harry asked the Komodo Dragon.

 _"Would you please buy me too?"_ asked Raja, _"I would be honored to go with you."_

 _"You know what I am?"_ asked Harry.

 _"Yes" said Raja, "I can sense the true you. I wish to be one of your defenders if you'll have me."_ Harry thought about this. Although he had never seen a Komodo Dragon before he knew about them. They were fierce hunters in the wild but in captivity they became tame quickly although they never lost their fierceness. They could grow to be over 3 meters long so this one was still very young indeed.

As he mulled things over he felt movement on his right shoulder and turned to see the owl nodding its head up and down.

"You think I should get him?" Harry asked the owl who barked in obvious approval of the idea.

 _"All right Raja"_ said Harry turning back to the aquarium and opening it to pick up the young Komodo Dragon, _"it looks like you're coming with us."_

 _"Thank you"_ said Raja as he climbed up Harry's left arm and perched on his left shoulder.

The only other notable thing that happened was when he went to buy his wand. He didn't really need a wand, he had been well trained in both wandless human magic and dragon magic, but a wand was one of the things Hogwarts required so a wand he would get. So off to Ollivander's he went. It didn't take long either. All he had to do was reach out with his senses and find the one that was calling him. He held up his hand and an ancient dusty box came flying out towards him from the very back of the shop.

"Oh my" said Mr. Ollivander opening the box and taking out the wand "I thought this wand would never find a buyer. Let's see how it works for you.

Harry took the wand and gave it a wave. It immediately gave off a shower of blue and bronze sparks.

"That's fantastic!" cried Ollivander clapping his hands together.

"Oh?" asked Sirius, "why?"

"That wand" said Ollivander, "is the oldest wand in this shop. In fact it's very likely the oldest Ollivander wand in existence. It was made over a thousand years ago by my ancestor Gareth Ollivander. The wood is said to be Oak from the sacred groves in Dodona in Greece. The wand core is made up of a scale freely donated by an ancient dragon. Family lore states it was the great dragon god Io himself who gave the scale however I cannot confirm if this is true. Regardless, it is one of the most powerful wands ever made by my family. If such a wand as this has chosen you, Mr. Potter, then I think we must expect great things from you."

Harry took that in. He was surprised to hear about the core of this wand but at the same time it also made some sense. Perhaps his parents would know if the scale in his wand really was from his grandfather.

After the shopping was done Harry and his guardians went back to Black Manor, which was where Harry stayed when he was on Earth. Both Raja and his new owl, whom he had eventually decided to call Hedwig (it hadn't been easy to find a name she liked), had free reign to explore the area.

A week after the trip to Diagon Alley Sirius sent Harry, Hedwig, and Raja back to Mt. Celestia for the rest of the summer. The press announcement about the truth of Harry and his family was scheduled for the next day and Bahamut, Daranni, Sirius, and Remus all wanted to keep Harry away from the fallout of that announcement for as long possible.

That turned out to be a wise decision. A few days later Sirius and Remus both told Bahamut and Daranni that the announcement that not only were Harry's parents alive but they were both major dragon gods and that as their child Harry was one too (even if he didn't have an aspect yet) had caused an enormous sensation not just in Britain but all over the magical world. _The Daily Prophet_ had to go back and reprint that day's edition twice when the news broke and it was hardly the only newspaper that had to do that.

"I wonder if we left the announcement until too late?" said Daranni.

"I doubt there would ever have been a 'right time'" said Bahamut, "but there are still a few weeks before Harry leaves for Hogwarts. The first rush of excitement should have died down at least somewhat."

By now Harry had grown a great deal. In his human form he was about average for an 11 year old boy, maybe a little taller. As a dragon he was now one third the size of either of his parents. Considering how large both of his parents were this meant that he was already quite big himself by the normal scale of things. Bahamut said that he was growing at an accelerated rate. Dragons weren't normally so large at Harry's age. Harry's parents thought that his human side was affecting his dragon growth rate, making him bigger sooner. It would not otherwise affect his life though.

It was close to end of August by the Earth calendar and Harry had a feeling that something was up. It was just the way the other inhabitants of the palace looked at him, as if they knew something concerning him that he didn't. Even his parents were acting this way, although they were better at hiding it then the others.

It came out on August 29th.

"Harry we need to talk with you" Bahamut said that morning after breakfast. All of them were in dragon form.

"You'll be leaving for Hogwarts in three days" said Daranni, "Sirius will take you to King's Cross on September 1st."

"I know" said Harry.

"However something very important is going to happen before that" said Bahamut, "your mum and I feel that you're ready for your Initiation."

At this Harry really sat up and took notice. The Initiation was a very important landmark in the development of a young dragon god. All of the dragon pantheon had undergone it, including Harry's own parents. He had known this day would eventually come but until now did not know exactly when.

"Wow" Harry said.

"Yes, wow" said Bahamut, "you're the first one of us to undergo the Initiation in centuries. The Time Lords have been notified. We go to Gallifrey tomorrow."

"Oh" said Harry, "how will we get there? We're not going to just step out of Mt. Celestia into the Citadel of the Time Lords, are we?"

"Oh no" said Daranni, "that would be very rude! The Doctor will be coming to get us tomorrow to take us to Gallifrey. We will return here by our own power."

"The Doctor?" said Harry, "it'll be nice to see him again."

"Prepare yourself" said Bahamut, "tomorrow is a very important day. Get as much sleep tonight as you can and tomorrow morning eat a good breakfast before we leave. You'll need it."

Naturally when someone tells you to sleep a lot on the night before something very important is going to happen it automatically becomes all that much harder to sleep. Harry was too excited to sleep for a long time. He didn't finally fall asleep until very late.

Despite not sleeping as much as he wanted Harry still got up without any problems. His excitement and nervousness over what would happen that day went a long way in banishing his fatigue. It made him a little hyper at breakfast, something both of his parents noted.

"Slow down there Harry" said Bahamut in amusement as he watched Harry practically swallow his breakfast whole, "we're not in a rush and you don't want to choke yourself."

"The Initiation ceremony isn't going anywhere" said Daranni with a chuckle, "no matter how long we linger over breakfast we'll still get there at the right time. The Doctor will see to that."

"Sorry" said Harry making an effort to slow down eating his breakfast, "just nervous, you know?"

"Yes" said Bahamut, "I remember my Initiation. That was a long, long time ago but I still remember it well."

"I remember mine too" said Daranni.

"Yours was unusual" said Bahamut, "you were already an adult when you were Initiated." Daranni chuckled.

"Can I help it that I was born mortal and didn't become divine until after I was already grown up?" she said.

"Not really" said Bahamut with a smile, "especially since I was the one who raised you to godhood so you could become my mate."

"And I am forever grateful for it" said Daranni.

"Ew" said Harry, "you two aren't going to get all mushy on me are you?" His parents looked at each other for a moment as if considering it."

"I'd like to" said Bahamut, "but not now."

"Later" said Daranni to him, her eyes promising her mate future pleasures, "right now we have other things to do. The Doctor should be hear soon so let's finish up here."

A short time later they had finished breakfast and moved to the audience chamber. With them were several of their guards who were going to go with them. These guards were very distinctive. They were roughly humanoid but instead of skin they were covered in scales. They all looked very strong, like warriors. These were some of Bahamut's most elite soldiers, the Dragonborn. All of them had chosen to undergo the Rite of Rebirth when they came to serve the king of dragons, transforming from their original race (human, elf, dwarf, etc) into their now draconic selves. They were some of his strongest champions who were not full dragons themselves.

"Now remember what we told you" said Bahamut, "when your Initiation is done you will automatically be sent back here. If we're not already here by then we will be soon."

"I remember" said Harry as he moved into place in between his parents.

"Good" said Bahamut as a breeze picked up in the room followed by the beginnings of a VWORP VWORP sound, "here comes the Doctor."

As they watched a shape began to materialize. After a moment it became clearly recognizable as a large blue box. It had small windows near its top and on its roof was a light that was blinking on and off. Along the top of the box above the doors were the words "Police Public Call Box." As the box faded fully into existence the VWORP sound gradually died away and the light stopped blinking. After a moment the doors of the box opened and the occupants emerged.

The first one looked human. He was tall, big but not fat, he had a full head of brown curly hair and blue eyes that seemed to contain both seriousness and laughter. His dress was a bit eccentric as human dress went. He wore light brown trousers, a white shirt, a colored vest, and a brown overcoat. But the most distinctive piece of clothing he wore was an incredibly long multi-colored striped scarf that reached all the way down to his feet on both sides.

His companion was a fox only he was standing upright on his hind legs and he had two tails. One look at his face and you could see he was very intelligent. He stopped abruptly where he was when he caught sight of Bahamut, Daranni, and Harry and looked at them all in obvious awe, amazement, and some shyness.

The man, on the other hand, looked quite pleased to see Bahamut and his family and it showed in his manner.

"King Bahamut" he said bowing to the platinum dragon, "Queen Daranni" to the silver dragon.

"Greetings Doctor" said King Bahamut, "I see you regenerated since you were last here."

"Yes, well I got tired of all the dandy stuff" said the Doctor, "is that Harry between you? My you've grown a lot since I last saw you."

"Thank you" said Harry looking at the Doctor with curiousity. This was not the Doctor that he remembered from when he had last seen him. That Doctor had been, as stated, a "dandy." But Harry had learned about Time Lord regenerations and was interested to see what this new version of the Doctor would be like.

"Oh" said the Doctor as he motioned for his fox companion to come forward, "allow me to introduce you to my current companion. This is Miles Prower from the planet Mobius. But you can call him 'Tails.' Tails, these are King Bahamut of Mt. Celestia, his mate Queen Daranni, and their son Prince Harry James Potter."

"How do you do?" said Tails, bowing to the dragons.

"Quite well, thank you" said Bahamut, "so you are from Mobius? We know of that planet."

"You do?" asked Tails in surprise.

"Certainly" said Daranni, "we know of all the worlds on which dragons live."

"You're a lot bigger than the dragons on Mobius" said Tails.

"Dragons come in all sizes" said Bahamut in an offhand manner.

"I suppose they do" said Tails, "after traveling with the Doctor I probably shouldn't be surprised by that."

"You have the look of a kitsune" said Daranni, "though I don't sense you having the same spirit powers of one."

"Inari said I'm not a Japanese kitsune" said Tails, "I just look like one but she says that's enough for my situation."

"You've met Inari?" said Bahamut, "interesting." Inari was the patron goddess of Kitsunes. Bahamut was rather surprised Tails had met her.

"Tails has met quite a few of the Powers" said the Doctor, "Inari Okami, Destiny and Death of the Endless, Joshua the son of Joseph and Mariam, and now you."

"Wow" said Harry who was impressed, "you get around."

"Everyone who travels with me does" said the Doctor, "now the Time Lords asked me to come here and bring some passengers to Gallifrey. I'm assuming that would be you?"

"Yes" said Bahamut, "it's time for Harry's Initiation."

"Ah" said the Doctor and his face became very solemn, "I see. Well we'd better get going then. How many passengers will there be?"

"The three of us" said Bahamut, "and several of our guards. You won't have to bring us back."

"Right" said the Doctor, "Well then, shall we all get ready?"

"Um Doctor" said Tails turning to the Doctor, "how are they going fit through the TARDIS doors?"

"If they can fit in the TARDIS itself they can fit through the doors" said the Doctor.

"Oh I know they'll fit inside the TARDIS" said Tails, "no question of that, but – "

"Take a look" said the Doctor pointing back to the dragons – only the dragons were gone. In their place were James, Lily, and Harry in their human forms. Tails' jaw dropped.

"How – ?" he began before having a logical thought, "you're shape shifters" he finished.

"Among other things" said James, "in these forms we have human names. You may call me James Potter, the woman is my wife Lily, and the boy is our son Harry."

"He doesn't have a separate name when he's human?" asked Tails.

"No, just the one" said James, "Doctor, shall we go?"

"Of course" said the Doctor gesturing to the TARDIS, "all aboard for Gallifrey."

James, Lily, and Harry all entered the TARDIS followed by several of their Dragonborn. Harry looked around at the console room. It was all gleaming white with indented circles all up and down the walls. On one wall was something that was clearly a view screen. Near the door he had just entered was a brown wooden coat hanger and hat stand that was taller than he was in his human form. But it was the console in the middle of the room that really captured his attention. It appeared to be a hexagonal device that was mounted on a pillar in the middle of the room. Each side was covered with various controls. In the center of the console there was a clear glass column which contained more equipment of an unknown kind. On the other side of the room was another open door that Harry could see did not lead back outside.

"So this is the famous TARDIS interior" said Harry. He'd never been inside the TARDIS before although his parents had.

"He's done it up a bit" said Lily, "I like it."

"I think it's brighter than it used to be" said James with a nod.

The Doctor now entered the TARDIS with Tails following him. The console room was quite crowded now with all of the people in it but it didn't seem bother anyone. The Doctor gestured for Tails to help him at the console. Tails spun his tails in a helicopter pattern and raised himself into the air before flying over to one of the console panels. The new passengers all looked at this with a great deal of surprise.

"You can fly?" asked Harry in some amazement, "that's awesome. How do you do that?"

"Don't really know" said Tails in an absent manner, "I just do."

The Doctor and Tails worked the console and the TARDIS took off on its trip to Gallifrey.

"We'll be there in a little while" said the Doctor to his guests, "if you would like some refreshment on the way the kitchen is available. Otherwise feel free to wander around – but don't go too far. It won't be that long."

"I'd like to see more of this place" said Harry.

"Tails, why don't you show Harry around" said the Doctor, "the two of you are close in age. You should get along quite well."

"Is that all right?" asked Tails turning towards Harry's parents.

"Go ahead" said James, "if I remember things correctly the TARDIS is sentient and it will look after you."

"That's right" said the Doctor, "she gets quite protective of her passengers. Go and enjoy yourselves."

"Okay" said Tails. He looked at Harry who nodded to him. Harry followed Tails out of the console room and deeper into the TARDIS down a long corridor that had doors on both sides. Two of the Dragonborn followed them staying close enough to keep watch but far enough to give them some room to talk.

"How big is the TARDIS?" asked Harry as they walked down the corridor.

"I don't know" said Tails, "I've explored it and I've found many different rooms of all types but I've never explored the whole thing. Sometimes I think it has no end."

"Wow" said Harry.

"So are you a dragon who can become human?" asked Tails as they kept walking, "or a human who can turn into a dragon?"

"Both actually" said Harry, "it's a long story. The Doctor said you've met some of the Powers?"

"Yes" said Tails, "your parents give off the same feeling of power that the other ones did. In fact you even have some of that feeling yourself although not as large."

"I'm just a kid" said Harry, "maybe when I'm older."

"You'll be a Power too?" asked Tails.

"Maybe" said Harry, "Both of my parents are gods although I was originally born human and mortal. My parents both incarnated themselves as mortal humans for a while. During that time they had me. Long story short, 15 months after I was born their mortal bodies were murdered by a terrorist. That sent them back to Mt. Celestia and their true forms. My father quickly had me brought there from Earth so I could still be raised with them. He released my true dragon self and turned me into what I am now."

"So you're a god too?" said Tails.

"A very young one" said Harry with a smile, "I don't have an aspect yet and won't for a very long time. A lot will happen before I come into my full power."

"Is that why you're going to Gallifrey?" asked Tails, "your father said it was time for your Initiation."

"Yes" said Harry as a faraway looked entered his eyes, "I'm going there to look into the Untempered Schism. All dragon gods do this once when they're growing up. It's a major event in our lives – I'm sorry, are you all right?"

Tails had stopped abruptly when Harry had mentioned the Untempered Schism.

"The Untempered Schism?" demanded Tails, "you're going to look into that?"

"Yes" said Harry, "you know about it?"

"The last time I was on Gallifrey I looked into it myself" said Tails.

"Really? What was it like?" asked Harry with interest, "nobody will tell me that. My parents just say that the experience is unique to everyone who looks in it."

"That's what my friends at the Time Lord Academy told me when I asked them about it" said Tails, "they wouldn't tell me what it was like for them, just that I had to experience it for myself. And they were right. It was like nothing I've ever experienced before or since."

"Then I can't wait" said Harry, "it sounds awesome."

"That's definitely one word for it" said Tails.

"So what's your story?" asked Harry, "have you been traveling with the Doctor for long?"

"Yes and no" said Tails, "he just picked me up from Mobius before we came to get you. I've been on extended trips with him in the past though. I also spent time at the Time Lord Academy on Gallifrey. Is that why you're going to look into the Untempered Schism? So you can enter the Academy afterwards?"

"No" said Harry, "I will be leaving for school in a few days but I won't be going to the Time Lord Academy."

They talked for a while longer before Harry felt a touch in his mind that seemed to be urging him to return to the console room. Remembering what his dad had said about the TARDIS being sentient he realized that it was the TARDIS itself that was telling him to return back the way they'd come. So Harry, Tails, and the Dragonborn went back to the console room, arriving there just as they heard the VWORP sounds of the ship materializing.

"We have arrived" said the Doctor who activated the view screen as he spoke, "and it looks like there's a reception committee." There was. When he looked at the screen Harry saw several people standing outside the TARDIS although he did not know any of them. Most of them looked like soldiers but the two in the middle of the group were quite clearly high ranking officials of some sort.

"Thank you for bringing us here Doctor" said James, "it's always a pleasure."

"Of course" said the Doctor shaking James' hand and kissing the back of Lily's hand, "I hope things go well for Harry's Initiation."

"I'm sure they will" said Lily before turning to her son, "come Harry."

"Yes mum" said Harry before shaking Tails' hand, "it was nice to meet you Tails."

"You too" said Tails, "and good luck with the Untempered Schism." Harry smiled and turned to go with his parents, their guards following behind them. The last Harry saw of Tails the young fox was making to follow them but the Doctor was motioning for him to wait. Then Harry and his family were outside the TARDIS facing the welcoming committee.

"Greetings great dragon king and queen" said one of the two high ranking officials, "welcome to Gallifrey. I am Chancellor Borusa and this is my colleague Castellan Spandrell." He gestured at the other official who nodded.

"Greetings Chancellor, Castellan" said James, "thank you for letting us come here."

"We were surprised to get the request" said Borusa, "it's been centuries since the last Initiation of one of your kind."

"Harry is the first new member of our pantheon to be born in all of those centuries" said Lily putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. Borusa and Spandrell looked at him.

"So you're Harry" said Spandrell, "welcome to Gallifrey."

"Thank you" said Harry feeling a little shy.

"Do you wish to take some refreshment first?" asked Spandrell, "or do you want to go straight to the Untempered Schism?"

"I think we should go straight there" said James, "It would be best to get it over with as soon as possible. Harry has been rather jumpy this morning and any delay would not help matters."

"All right" said Borusa, "the Chancellory Guard is here to escort you there. I will accompany you as well. What about you?" The last question was directed at Spandrell.

"I will stay here" said Spandrell, "I want to speak to the Doctor."

"Very well" said Borusa and he gave the signal to the guards to move out.

The walk to the Untempered Schism was not short. First they had to leave the city. Then they had to hike quite a ways into the mountains beyond the city's edge. The whole one way trip took a few hours to complete. At one point Harry asked his parents why they didn't fly there but James said that the walk was necessary as it gave people time to prepare for what was to come.

"Around the turn of the path and there it is" said Chancellor Borusa pointing forward. They all rounded the bend and Harry finally saw the Untempered Schism for the first time. The sight almost took his breath away. Ever since they had started hiking up the mountainside Harry had felt – something – in the distance. A real presence, a living presence that seemed to be reaching out to him, calling to him. Now as he set eyes on the Schism for the first time he knew that this was where the call was coming from. Up the path he saw a large metallic ring mounted on a stand. In front of it was a plaque with a seal on it – The Seal of Rassilon as he later learned from his parents. Inside the ring was...

From a distance Harry couldn't really see what was inside the ring. Or even if the ring had an inside. Certainly it didn't show the mountainside behind it. No, something was swirling within that ring. It had weight and power, Harry could feel it. Even from a distance it seemed like it was reaching out towards him and beckoning him to come closer.

James placed his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"This is where you go on alone" James said, "don't worry. Remember what I told you. Us dragon gods are time sensitive so it is safe for us to use the Schism."

"I remember" said Harry, "I'm not afraid," and he wasn't. Nervous? Yes. But not afraid.

"As soon as you enter the Schism we will leave here and return to Mt. Celestia to wait for you" said Lily.

"Now go" said James, "and do us proud." Harry nodded and began to walk up the path towards the Untempered Schism while everyone else watched. The walk wasn't long before he was there. The plaque was at his feet and he stopped to look at the seal on it. He didn't linger long though before turning his attention to the ring itself. It wasn't that high off the ground so he had to kneel down to bring his head level with it. He took a breath and looked inside.

For one second it seemed like he was looking through a window at a huge starry sky. Suddenly he felt an unseen force pull him forward right through the ring and into the Schism itself!

Harry would never forget his time in the Untempered Schism. It was incredible. Everywhere he looked he saw space, and stars and, and galaxies, clusters of galaxies, the whole universe seemed to be there with him and he was rushing forward headlong through it, getting faster and faster and faster until he seemed to be a streak across creation accelerating to speeds beyond the imagination.

He felt no fear. He was able to handle the experience of flying in eternity. Perhaps it was because he was a god and able to comprehend what he was undergoing. He reflexively shifted into his dragon form as he flew. It seemed like the right thing to do if only to give himself the illusion of control over his flight.

Everywhere he looked there were fresh wonders to see. He saw stars being born and going nova. Systems were born and died. Time was speeding up and he had no idea just how far he had traveled both in space and time.

Suddenly he was not alone. There was another dragon flying next to him. Harry didn't know where it had come from. It had just appeared out of nowhere and what a dragon it was! It was far bigger than any other dragon Harry had ever seen or even heard of. Both of his parents would look small next to it so Harry felt tiny by comparison. There was something very majestic about it but it was also calm and it looked at Harry with a kind eye.

"Hello Harry" the dragon said in a friendly voice, "I'm glad to finally meet you in person. I am Io, your grandfather."

(To Be Continued)

 **AFTERWORD: So that's that. I have no plans for Harry and Tails to meet again. This was a one time deal. There actually is precedent for this kind of crossing over outside of fanfic. There's** ** _The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_** **which brings in characters from a whole bunch of different stories. Another example is the novel** ** _The Seven Percent Solution_** **where Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson meet Rudolf Rassendyll from** ** _The Prisoner of Zenda_** **on a train to Vienna for about two minutes.**

 **If you want to see what this scene looked life from Tails' point of view you can find it in chapter 97 of** ** _Tails' TARDIS Tales_** **"Return To Gallifrey." You don't have to read the whole thing of that fic. to understand it, but I'll love you if you do!**

 **In other notes, Hedwig was always going to show up. How can you have a Harry Potter story without Hedwig?**

 **Raja was inspired by a real Komodo Dragon of that name at the London Zoo who appeared in the episode "Lizard Kings" of the TV series** ** _NOVA_** **. There have been plenty of stories where Harry picks up a snake companion with his Parseltongue and I didn't really want to do that, although I did originally consider giving him either an Anaconda or a Reticulated Python as a companion. But I thought that there was a good chance that Parseltongue could also be used to speak to other reptiles and since Harry is a dragon he should be able to speak to other reptiles anyway. I settled on giving him a Komodo Dragon as a companion instead.**

 **For those who asked me if Harry would be meeting the Dragonborn obviously the answer is yes. He knows the Dragonborn – at least he knows this version of them. These are the Dragonborn of D &D 3.5, the ones who undergo the "Rite of Rebirth" to become champions for Bahamut as opposed to the other kind of Dragonborn from D&D 4 who are born that way and are an actual race of people.**

 **Finally Io is the creator god of D &D dragons and Bahamut's and Tiamat's father, which makes him Harry's grandfather. I've had conflicting info. on whether Io is alive or dead in D&D (depends on the edition of the game I think) but in this story he's alive and one of the few ways to contact him is to enter the Untempered Schism. All dragon gods have to do this when they're growing up as part of their Initiation. Harry is no exception.**

 **So until next time when Harry gets on the Hogwarts Express...**

 **Happy Holidays everyone!**


	10. Hogwarts Express

**A/N: Been quite a while since I updated this story. The last few months I've been polishing off the last three chapters of my other long running fic.** ** _Tails' TARDIS Tales._** **That story is now finished (it only took 7 years and apparently 253,818 words!) so I'm returning to this story at last. Thanks for all the feedback on the last chapter. I knew probably not everyone would like it and that's fine. It was an experiment I wanted to try so I did. Now it's done and there aren't any other extra crossovers planned for the foreseeable future.**

 **Thank you naruhinafan1234 for being the 200th person to favorite this story. And thank you my readers for pushing this story past 30,000 views.**

 **I don't own either** ** _Harry Potter_** **or** ** _Dungeons and Dragons_** **. They belong to their respective creators. The only things that are mine are the story itself and any original characters I might come up with. Please read and review; I always appreciate feedback. Constructive criticism is welcome, however no flames please.**

 **Now let's get on the Hogwarts Express with Harry!**

10 – HOGWARTS EXPRESS

When Harry emerged from the Untempered Schism he was not the same as he had been before he went in. Io initiated Harry into what being a dragon god really meant and his responsibilities towards others of his kind. They spent a lot of time getting to know each other too. Harry was enthralled by his grandfather's stories as the elder dragon talked about his own history, his children's history, the other gods in the pantheon and where they fit in, about dragonkind in general and how dragons were related to other reptiles.

The dragons were the first reptiles to have a spoken language. As time went by they taught it to the lizards, their closer reptile relatives. From there it spread to the other reptiles until it became their common language. The dinosaurs on Earth had even spoken it when they existed. Amphibians spoke it too, but their version was a little different, kind of like how British English and American English are the same, yet different. Birds, on the other hand, did not speak it. Even though they were directly descended from the dinosaurs birds had evolved far enough away from reptiles that they had developed their own distinct language and lost the ability to speak Dragon.

The two dragons traveled to many different worlds in the cosmos and saw many of the different kinds of dragons that lived on them. Some of those trips make up stories in their own right but there's no time to tell any of them now although it should be mentioned that Io took extra time to show Harry the world of Oerth as a place that Bahamut had frequently visited in earlier years – and still visited from time to time, and he pointed out Castle Greyhawk in particular which was a famous (or perhaps infamous) place that drew adventurers from many different realms. While they were on Oerth they visited Faix Templamut who was Bahamut's grandson and therefore Harry's nephew. It was a matter of considerable amusement to all concerned just how much older the nephew was than the uncle.

All told Harry spent many years with his grandfather – or so it seemed, for no matter how much time seemed to be passing Harry noticed that he wasn't aging. Eventually Io declared this part of Harry's training to be finished and sent him home with the promise that they would meet again when the time was right for Harry to receive his specific divine aspect. Lastly, before he and Harry said goodbye Io confirmed that the scale in Harry's new wand had been one of his. Then, in the blink of an eye, Harry reappeared in the audience chamber of his father's palace to find his parents waiting for him.

"Mum, dad" said Harry once he got his bearings.

"Welcome back Harry" said Bahamut.

"It's been so long" said Harry, "but neither of you have changed at all."

"It hasn't even been an hour since you entered the Untempered Schism" said Daranni.

"What?!" exclaimed Harry, "but – " Bahamut stopped him and explained how even though it seemed like years had passed while Harry was with Io inside the Schism out here less than an hour had passed. Time did not always move at the same pace everywhere and a being as powerful as Io could often control how fast time was going in a specific place, either compressing it or stretching it out as needed. Harry's eyes got very wide as he took in this last surprise of his Initiation. It certainly explained why he hadn't aged while he was with his grandfather.

"I understand your disorientation" said Bahamut, "the same thing happened to me when I was initiated, and to your mother, and your Aunt T, and all of the other dragon gods. It will quickly pass. You've taken a major step towards assuming your place in our pantheon. I suggest you rest now and take things easy for the rest of today and tomorrow." Harry thought for a moment and then agreed that he would.

Harry made his way to his sleeping chamber and curled up to rest. His last thought before drifting off was to wonder just when and how he would see his grandfather again. He slept the rest of that day and night without waking up even once. It was one of the best sleeps he'd ever had – restful, refreshing, and without dreams. When he finally woke up late the next morning he felt like a new dragon.

* * *

September 1st had come. Harry Potter was going to Hogwarts. It was a Sunday that year but for a big London station like King's Cross that didn't make much difference. It was 9:30 AM when Harry arrived at the station accompanied by Remus and Sirius. His parents were also with him but they were disguised as other people than James and Lily. The two of them wore the forms of an elderly couple. To look at them you might have thought they were Harry's grandparents.

They didn't have any problems getting on to Platform 9 and they were rather early so it wasn't too crowded yet. All of them thought this was just as well since it meant not having to deal with lots of fans who might have been looking for Harry. The group walked all the way down to the end of the train and took the very last compartment in the last car on the theory that it would be easier to see people coming if you only had to look one way for them.

Once Harry's things were squared away in the compartment he joined his family on the platform to watch other people arriving in the station. The crowd was growing rapidly as more families arrived with their children.

"A lot of people are going to be looking for you today" said the disguised Bahamut to Harry, "but you need fear nothing."

"I know" said Harry, "if anyone does try anything the looks on their faces will be interesting."

Before anything else could be said Harry heard someone call his name. Turning toward the sound he saw Neville Longbottom quickly approaching him, his parents Alice and Frank right behind him

"Neville" said Harry as he greeted his friend and god brother, "good to see you."

"And you" said Neville. Greetings were exchanged all around. The Longbottoms all realized at once that the elder couple were Harry's parents. This was not a surprise to them. As some of a very small number of people who had known the truth about Harry's family before the announcement in the wizarding press they had sometimes seen Harry's parents assume different forms.

"Let's get you two onboard" said Frank Longbottom to the two best friends. It only took a couple of minutes before Neville's trunk was stowed away beside Harry's and they were settled in their compartment. After that it was just a matter of passing time until the train left. Harry and Neville spent time talking with their families and watching other magical families arrive as 11:00 AM drew closer.

"Now don't forget to have fun" said Sirius, "and play some good pranks."

"But don't take it too far" said Remus.

"Agreed" said the disguised Bahamut to Harry, "there's a difference between a funny prank and bullying. Your mother and I will very disappointed if you become a bully."

"As will we" said Alice Longbottom to Neville.

"You don't have much room to talk about not being a bully considering what things were like during our years at Hogwarts" said Sirius to Bahamut.

"Neither do you" said Bahamut, "but I was actually someone else in those days. What's your excuse?"

Before Sirius could say anything the train whistle blew. It was time to go. Harry and Neville just had time to lean out of the compartment windows and say goodbye to their families before the train started to move.

"We're on our way" said Harry to Neville as the two boys leaned back in their seats watching the train leave the station and pull out into the streets of London as it began its journey North to Hogwarts.

"Yes we are" said Neville, "I wonder why we didn't see any of our other friends yet?"

"Considering we're all the way at the back of the train" said Harry, "they probably just haven't come back this far. I'm sure some of them will turn up sooner or later." Harry reached over to Hedwig's cage and let the owl out. She flew up to perch on the luggage rack. Then he opened Raja's aquarium and placed the young Komodo Dragon on his lap.

"So these are Hedwig and Raja?" asked Neville. Harry had written to him about them in his most recent letter.

"Yes" said Harry. Raja looked at Neville and hissed something while Hedwig gave a brief bark. "Raja says 'hello'" continued Harry, "so does Hedwig."

"Hello to you too" said Neville to both Hedwig and Raja before he opened up a cat basket that was near him and took out a pure black kitten that was about halfway grown.

"Hello Voldemort" said Harry to the cat which looked at him and meowed a greeting, completely unafraid of Harry's presence for some reason "I love that you named him after You Know Who."

"It seemed appropriate" said Neville, "he's completely dark, has a lot of pride, and thinks that we're all his servants."

"Which you are" said Harry while Voldemort the kitten curled up on Neville's lap looking rather smug.

"That's true, besides it's also fun" said Neville with a wicked grin as he petted the cat's head.

"You're going scare everyone in the school when you call him for the first time" said Harry, "I'm looking forward to seeing that."

"My dad told me that Professor Dumbledore laughed when he told him what I named my cat" said Neville, "he said it was one of the best ways he'd ever come across to help people stop being afraid of saying his name." Harry nodded. He'd not yet met the headmaster but he'd heard a lot about him. It did sound like something he would say.

"I saw your letter on the Ginger plant in _Herbology Today_ a couple of weeks ago" said Harry, "the editors seemed to like it."

"They did" said Neville happily, "they asked me if I'd be interested in working it up into a full article. I finished it and sent it off two days ago. It should appear in next month's issue."

"That's great" said Harry, "congratulations."

"Thanks" said Neville, "my first professional article. Hard to believe."

"Not to anyone who knows you" said Harry, "you're a born genius with plants. You'll probably be teaching herbology before first year is halfway done." They laughed a little at this but they also both knew that there was a lot of truth to what Harry said.

They sat in companionable silence for a little while before Neville stirred himself.

"May I ask you something?" he asked Harry.

"You may always ask" said Harry with a grin, "I might not answer."

"Ha ha" said Neville, "seriously though there's something different about you from when we last saw each other."

"Oh?" said Harry raising an eyebrow.

"You seem more confident than before – which is saying a lot" said Neville, "like you're older."

"We're both older" said Harry, "we turned 11 a month ago."

"But you seem a lot older somehow" said Neville, "I'm not sure why but somehow – did something happen recently?" Harry looked at Neville for a long moment while deciding what to tell him.

"Yes" he finally answered, "just a couple of days ago. I can't really talk too much about it right now as I'm still getting used to what happened. I met my dragon grandfather."

"Io?" asked Neville in amazement as Harry nodded, "you actually met Io? I didn't know that was possible."

"Why not?" said Harry, "you know what my parents are. If they exist then why shouldn't my grandfather exist too? Meeting him was – " he stopped as he tried to find the right words but Neville held up a hand to stop him.

"Say no more" Neville said, "I can see it's had a big impact on you. If you don't feel comfortable talking about it that's fine."

"Thanks" said Harry, "but I will tell you about it someday."

Before either of them could say anything else there was a knock on the compartment door. Neville gestured for the person outside to come in and the newcomer slid open the door. A girl who looked to be about their age looked inside. She had big bushy hair, large front teeth, and was already in her Hogwarts robes. She was dragging a trunk behind her.

"Hello" she said, "is there room in here? Some older girls forced me to leave my compartment. Said they didn't want some silly first year messing up their space."

"That wasn't very nice of them" said Harry, "sure, we have room. Come on in."

"Thank you" said the girl as Neville and Harry helped her to lift her trunk up onto the rack opposite where Hedwig was perched, "This is my first year at Hogwarts and I'm so excited. I've heard it's the best school of magic there is. I'm the first in my family to go. I didn't know that all of the things that were happening around me were magic. It was such a surprise to get my letter but I was glad to get it. My name's Hermione Granger by the way."

"Whoa, whoa!" said Harry raising a hand as if to stop her words, "slow down and take a breath. I can tell you're excited about Hogwarts but you don't want to drop dead before you even get there."

"I'm sorry" said Hermione with a somewhat rueful smile, "I know I overdo it sometimes."

"Nothing to be sorry about" said Neville, "we're both excited too. But you should relax for a bit and enjoy the ride. No need to arrive at Hogwarts before we actually get there."

"I'll try to remember that" said Hermione as she relaxed back on her seat which was next to Harry, "are you both first years too?"

"Yes" said Neville, "I'm Neville Longbottom and this is my God Brother Harry Potter."

"Really?" asked Hermione, "you're Harry Potter? The one who appears in all of the recent history books? I've read all about you."

"You and just about everyone else in the wizarding world" Harry muttered.

"I'm sorry?" asked Hermione a bit taken aback at Harry's reply.

"Harry doesn't like his fame all that much" said Neville, "he understands it and he puts up with it – but he doesn't really like it and it's likely to have only gotten worse these past few weeks. That's why we came to the station as early as we did."

"Gotten worse?" asked Hermione before she realized what Neville meant, "oh you mean that stuff in the _Daily Prophet_ about you and your family? That's really true?"

"You read the _Daily Prophet?_ " asked Harry, "you're really rushing into the wizarding world fast. Most Muggleborns don't even know about the wizarding press until after they start school."

"I wanted to know as much about the wizarding world as I could" said Hermione, "so I had my family subscribe to the paper for the last few months."

"I see" said Harry, "well, yes, that recent revelation about my family is true."

"I wasn't kidding when I said Harry was my God Brother" said Neville with a grin, "his mum is my Godmother. Literally."

"And his mother is mine" said Harry quietly.

"Wow" said Hemione, not sure what else to say.

"Don't let it bother you" said Harry, "it doesn't matter who or what I am or what my parents are. I'm just someone going to Hogwarts for the first time, like you."

"Thank you" said Hermione, "do either of you know which house you'll be in? I hope I get Gryffindor. It sounds by far the best."

"Maybe it is" said Harry, "but is it the best house for you?"

"I'm sorry?" asked Hermione, confused by the question.

"Well" said Harry, "there are four houses at Hogwarts, right? Each one has its own reputation. They say Gryffindor is for the brave – "

"– Or the reckless" chimed in Neville with a chuckle.

"Yes" said Harry, "Hufflepuff is for the loyal and hardworking – "

"– Nothing wrong with that" added Neville, "seriously, there's nothing wrong with Hufflepuff even though a lot of snobby people claim that only average people get sorted there. It should go without saying that they're wrong about that."

"Ravenclaw is for the intellectual types" continued Harry, "it's the 'smart' house."

"Though some say that Ravenclaws spend so much time buried in their studies that they lose track of what's going on in the world around them" said Neville.

"And finally" said Harry, "we have Slytherin which is the house for the ambitious and the cunning."

"Unfortunately it's also the house where most of the kids of the Pureblood Supremacists tend to go" said Neville with a dark look on his face, "don't go there."

"It's not an evil house by nature" said Harry, "not everyone there is bad by any means. My human grandmother on my dad's side was a Slytherin and dad said that she was one of the nicest people you could ever meet. But like Neville said many of them come from old Pureblood families that really look down on Muggles and Muggleborns. You wouldn't be accepted in that house by very many people. Even I would have trouble there since I'm a Half-Blood."

"You're not a Half-Blood" said Neville.

"When my mum was mortal she was a Muggleborn" said Harry, "she was still mortal when she had me so I'm a Half-Blood."

"No" said Neville, "you were a Half-Blood when you were born – but you're not now."

"What are you then?" asked Hermione.

"Harry is a God-Blood!" said Neville with a wide grin. Harry mock punched him.

"Very funny" said Harry, " _please_ don't go spreading that term around."

"I'll think about it" said Neville, smirking.

"So" said Harry turning back to Hermione, "now that we've told you about the houses which one do you think is the best? Not which one has the best reputation but which one do you think would be the best _for you?_ "

"I – never thought about it like that" admitted Hermione, "I don't know what to say."

They sat in silence for a little while watching the land go by. They were now outside of London and speeding through the countryside.

As the day wore on they had visitors, not too many though since they were at the very end of the train. Some of those who visited them were friends who had been looking for them. Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones stopped by together to say hello. Cedric Diggory also looked in on them at one point. There were also a few others who were in other compartments in their car who were visiting their neighbors. Two boys and two girls who had been sitting together in the next compartment all came in together. The boys were named Terry Boot and Michael Corner and the girls were twins named Padma and Parvati Patil. They were all first years. Harry and Neville invited them to stay.

"Getting a little crowded in here" observed Michael. Harry looked up and noticed that, yes, there was just barely enough room for everyone. He muttered something under his breath and made a small gesture. Suddenly the compartment was twice as big as before.

"How did you do that?" asked Hermione in amazement.

"Dragon magic" said Harry in an offhand manner.

"Oh wow" said Terry, "um, are you sure you should be showing us that?"

"Maybe a month ago I would have said no" said Harry, "but knowledge of my true family is out now so it doesn't matter. That was a Spell of Spatial Expansion. It's not anything a wizard can't do."

"That's right" said Neville, "we would use the space expansion charm. Same result, different way to do it."

"That makes sense" said Terry nodding his head.

"There are lots of things my family keeps secret" said Harry, "things that only dragons know of course – but that's not one of them."

 _"You're not going to start showing off, are you?"_ Raja hissed up at Harry who looked down in surprise.

 _"What? No"_ said Harry, _"just stating a fact, but don't worry. Secrets are secret for a reason."_

"Oh, are you a Parselmouth?" one of the Patil twins asked (Parvati if Harry remembered correctly). Her sister (Padma) then answered the question.

"Of course you are" said Padma, "as a dragon you can speak to all reptiles. We know that."

"Really?" asked Harry looking at the twins with interest. Parvati blushed a little.

"We do" she said, "I just wasn't thinking. Our granduncle is a Parselmouth and he told us all about it. That Parseltongue is really the ancient language the dragons speak."

"It is?" asked Hermione.

"Yes" said Parvati, "and it's NOT the sign of a dark wizard despite what many people in Britain may say."

"Definitely not" said Padma, "our family is originally from India. Parselmouths help to control the many poisonous snakes in the country. They also help on dragon reserves. Parselmouths in India are very well respected."

"I imagine they would be" said Michael, "I didn't know dragons could speak and being able to talk to them would be very useful."

After that they spent some time getting to know each other. Michael was a half-blood from Britain. Terry was also British but he had some American blood in his family tree as one of his ancestors came from the family that helped found Ilvermorny, one of the American magic schools.

"What a beautiful kitten" said Parvati a little later as she looked at the black cat on Neville's lap which looked at Parvati and meowed.

"Thank you" said Neville, "I got him two months ago. He's growing fast."

"What's his name?" asked Padma. Neville glanced at Harry who winked at him.

"His name's Voldemort" said Neville.

There was silence in the compartment that was broken only by Harry attempting to stifle a snigger.

"I'm sorry?" said Michael, "I must have heard you wrong. For a second I thought you said your cat has the same name as You Know Who."

"He does" said Neville in a completely nonchalant manner.

"Why would you name your cat after You Know Who?" asked Hermione.

"I have my reasons" said Neville but didn't elaborate any further.

"You're going to scare people whenever you call him" said Terry.

"We know" said Harry, "but people should get used to it. It's just a name after all."

Before anyone could respond to that the door to the compartment opened again. Harry looked to see who was coming in and smiled at the newcomers.

"Fred, George" called Harry as the two red-haired Weasley twins entered the compartment, "or should I say Gred and Forge? How are you guys?"

"Harry, oh Harry" said the first one, Fred Harry said to himself. Unlike most people he could tell the twins apart but when he was asked how he was able to do that he (much to the frustration of many others) would just smile and say "it's obvious."

"We've found you at last" said George.

"We started at one end of the train – " continued Fred.

"And headed to the other end – "

"Until there were no more compartments – "

"That you weren't in so – "

"By process of elimination – "

"You had to be in this one and – "

"Here you are" they finished off together. Harry and Neville laughed, Terry, Michael, and Hermione all looked a bit bemused by the twins while Padma and Parvati gave each other knowing smiles.

"Is this what verbal tennis is like?" Michael asked Terry who just shrugged.

"We read the news about you and your family" said George.

"And that is the best prank we've ever seen" said Fred, "acting like a normal, mortal wizard when really – "

"– All the time you were a dragon god" said George.

The two of them dropped to their knees and bowed low to Harry in a very over-the-top and theatrical manner.

"We're not worthy oh great one!" they both cried out together. Harry and Neville laughed again. The others all looked a bit shocked at first but soon started smiling or laughing themselves as they realized the twins were just joking and Harry was fine with that. Hermione leaned over to whisper in Harry's ear.

"They didn't know?" asked Hermione.

"No" Harry whispered back to her, "only Neville and his family, my godfather, my honorary uncle, and a couple of others in the wizarding world knew the truth about me and my parents before the story broke."

"Oh" said Hermione.

"Our friend Luna also knew" said Neville, "she always seems to know things and she's always known what Harry is."

"Really?" said Hermione, "I'd like to meet her."

"You'll have to wait until next year" said Neville, "she doesn't start Hogwarts until then."

"Get up you two" Harry was now saying to the twins, "my pranking buddies shouldn't be bowing to me like this."

"Not until you give us your blessing oh great master" said George. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Just say something, anything" said another person from the doorway, "you know how they are." This boy was about the same age as the twins and wore his hair in dreadlocks. His name was Lee Jordan. Harry had met him a few times with the twins.

"You're right Lee" said Harry before putting a hand on the head of each twin and saying in a low, mock solemn voice, "arise oh faithful disciples. I Harry James Potter, son of Bahamut through his human form of James Potter, better known as the Marauder Prongs, godson of Marauder Padfoot, and honorary nephew of Marauder Moony do bid you stand."

"Thank you great Marauder spawn" intoned both Fred and George in the lowest voices they could make as they stood up. There was a moment of silence and then everybody in the compartment started laughing again.

"You guys are great" said Terry holding out a hand and giving his name followed by Michael, Hermione and the Patil twins.

"You're twins too?" asked George, "do you also twin speak?"

"Yes we do but – " said Parvati.

"We don't do it often because it – " said Padma.

"Drives our parents crazy" finished Parvati.

"Of course it does" said Fred, "it drives our mum crazy too, although our dad doesn't mind so much."

"We'll look out for you at Hogwarts" said George, "twins should stick together after all."

"Say Fred," Neville asked, "where's Ron?"

"What? He was right behind us" said Fred, he looked back out through the door of the compartment to behind Lee, "he's still out in the corridor."

"Well ask him to come in" said Harry, "there's still room."

"You heard him" said George motioning to someone outside the compartment. Another red-haired boy who was clearly also a Weasley walked shyly into the compartment. He looked to be about the same age as the other first years. He was already wearing his Hogwarts robes.

"Come in Ron" said Neville, "join us. Don't you want to meet some more of your classmates? Except for your brothers and Lee we're all first years."

"Hi" said Ron sounding a bit shy as everyone introduced themselves to him. He looked a little nervous to be stepping into such a crowded room.

"Relax Ron" said Harry, "we're not going to eat you."

 _"Bad choice of words Harry"_ hissed Raja.

 _"Oh please"_ Harry hissed back, _"everyone knows that metallic dragons don't eat people. From what I've been told humans taste terrible anyway."_ Harry looked up from Raja and saw Ron staring at him as if he'd grown an extra head.

"Are you all right?" Harry asked him.

"You're a Parselmouth!" exclaimed Ron, "you can speak to snakes!" Harry rolled his eyes. Here we go again.

"Ron" said Neville, "does the animal sitting on Harry's lap look like a snake to you?" Ron took another look at Raja and realized that no, it wasn't a snake. He looked down a bit embarrassed.

"It sounded like Parseltongue" he muttered.

"Ickle Ronniekins" said Fred.

"When have you ever heard – " said George.

"Parseltongue being spoken?" finished Fred.

"No, no" he's right" said Harry, "it was Parseltongue."

"So you can speak to snakes?" said Ron looking up again.

"Ron" said Harry, "I'm a dragon. Of course I speak Parseltongue. ALL reptiles speak it. Why people think it's only for snakes I don't know. Also we don't call it Parseltongue, that's a human name. Reptiles call it 'Dragon'"

"Why?" asked Hermione, "if it's a common reptile language why is it called 'Dragon?'"

"Because the dragons spoke it first" said Neville, "and they taught it to the other reptiles."

"How do you know that?" asked Terry.

"I grew up with Harry" said Neville, "I picked up a lot of dragon legends and history on the way."

"It's true?" asked Ron looking Harry in disbelief, "what the _Prophet_ said about you? You really are – "

"Yes, yes and all that" said Harry cutting him, "for once the _Prophet_ told the truth."

"We knew the article was true because Rita Skeeter didn't write it" said Lee, "can you imagine what it would have been like if she had?"

"I'd rather not imagine that, thank you" said Harry, "if Rita decides to write about me or my family she'd better be careful. My parents won't look kindly on any false reports and slander she might try to write about them."

By now it was getting late in the afternoon so most of the guests in Harry's compartment said goodbye and went back to their own compartments to change into their school robes while Harry shrank the compartment back to its regular size (much to Ron's amazement). Ron stayed since he was already in his robes. However he and Hermione did step out into the corridor so Harry and Neville could change into their own robes. Once they were done the other two came back into the compartment and sat down again. They were now passing through rougher country as they headed into the wilds of Scotland.

"Interesting scenery" said Hermione, "I've never been to Scotland before. Have any of you?"

"No" said each of the three boys. They were silent for a few minutes before the sound of the compartment door opening again attracted their collective attention and they looked over to see the newcomers.

Three boys entered the compartment. One, the leader of the three by the looks of things, was a fairly tall (for a first year Harry guessed), thin boy with a pale, pointed face, blond hair that fell smoothly around his head, and grey eyes that reminded Harry a bit of ice. The other two who stood behind him on either side were both big hulking boys who looked a bit like gorillas.

"Is it true?" the first boy asked looking at Harry, "they've been saying all up and down the train that Harry Potter is in this compartment. So it's you?"

"It is" said Harry, "and the three of you are?"

"This is Crabbe" said the boy pointing to the one on his right, "that's Goyle, and I'm Draco Malfoy."

Ron tried to stifle a snigger but Malfoy heard him.

"You want to laugh at my name do you?" he said turning to look at Ron, "it's obvious who you are. Obviously one of those blood traitor Weasleys my father is always telling me – "

"Whoa!" said Harry cutting off Malfoy, "please don't start throwing insults around. It's not a good way to make a first impression."

"You want to tell me about making impressions?" responded Malfoy, "you're not making a very good one yourself. Some wizarding families are better than others Potter. It's important to know the right ones. I could help you there." He held out his hand to Harry.

"I'll shake your hand because it's polite" said Harry as he did so, "but as for the rest, why would you think I don't already know who the right ones are? I haven't been cut off from the Wizarding world all my life you know."

"Maybe not" said Malfoy, "but considering the company you're keeping I'd think you'd want to get to know some more influential and powerful families than these two blood traitors and this obviously – " Malfoy hesitated as he saw the warning look on Harry's face " – muggleborn person."

Neville laughed.

"Don't you know who you're talking to?" Neville said, "Harry's family is far more powerful and influential than either of our families will ever be – or any wizarding family for that matter."

"Neville please, you're making me blush" said Harry.

"Just stating facts" said Neville.

"Yes but you don't need to rub it in the poor boy's face" said Harry, "he can't help who his relatives are."

"Yeah" said Ron, "it's not his fault his parents are prats."

"That was uncalled for" said Hermione.

"He insulted my family" said Ron, "it's only fair."

"Maybe, but you shouldn't sink to his level" said Hermione.

"Potter you need better friends" said Malfoy who was starting to look angry. Behind him Crabbe and Goyle stood watching, both impassive.

"To be fair you did escalate things" said Harry, "Ron might have been wrong to find your name funny but you didn't have to start throwing insults around. I really don't like it when people do that."

"You'd better watch yourself Potter" said Malfoy, "don't talk back to your betters."

Harry laughed.

"My betters?" he said, "I was raised to treat people with respect, but not to suffer fools."

"You'll wind up just like your parents if you're not careful" Malfoy said in a threatening manner.

"You mean" said Harry with a smirk, "grow up, be a god, have worshipers, and rule my own realm? That sounds pretty good to me! What do you think Neville?"

"I think it sounds pretty good too" said Neville with a grin, "especially since as your God Brother I get to be a part of it."

"That's right" said Harry, "do you want to be my high priest? Or maybe my Prime Minister?"

"Ask me in ten years" said Neville, "I might know by then."

"You don't really expect us to believe that crap the _Prophet_ printed about you?" Malfoy said in disbelief.

"Why not? It's true" said Neville, "I've been to Mt. Celestia and seen where Harry and his family live. It's an incredible place."

"Sure it is" sneered Malfoy, "like a Half-Blood son of a Mudblood could possibly live better than a Pure Blood."

The temperature in the compartment suddenly seemed to drop down to below freezing as Harry stood up very suddenly and gave Malfoy such a look of anger that it made the boy step back in shock. Behind him Crabbe and Goyle drew in their breaths but said nothing. They looked like they would rather be somewhere else, anywhere else. Meanwhile Voldemort the kitten had started hissing at Malfoy while Neville kept a grip on him to stop him from attacking Malfoy.

"If you ever insult my mother again" said Harry in a dangerously soft voice, "you will be very, very sorry." Malfoy gulped looking at Harry but he did his best to rally himself with an even bigger sneer.

"I don't like your attitude Potter," Malfoy snarled, "I think it's time you were put in your place."

Malfoy drew his wand and raised it – and then froze as he felt a knife suddenly pressed against his throat.

"You will not attack my prince" hissed a low voice in Malfoy's ear, "that is if you want to live to see the end of this train journey." Neville, Hermione, and Ron all looked at the woman standing over Malfoy and holding a knife to his throat in shock as she had just appeared from out of nowhere. Behind her two dragonborn guards had also appeared and had their hands resting on Crabbe and Goyle's shoulders to stop them from interfering although since neither boy had made a move to do so they were not otherwise restrained.

"Kurya" said Harry, "let him go. He can't harm us."

"Only if he lowers his wand and puts it away" was the reply. Harry nodded.

"You heard her Malfoy, "said Harry, "I suggest you do as she says."

"How dare you Potter," said Malfoy, "why I'll – "

"Are you really so stupid as to issue threats when your life is on the line like this?" demanded Harry, "I thought Purebloods were supposed to be smarter than that. Now put your wand down." As if to emphasize the situation Kurya wiggled the knife up and down against Malfoy's throat. Reluctantly Malfoy lowered his wand and put it away. At a nod from Harry Kurya released him and stepped back. Malfoy's face was red with anger and humiliation.

"You'll pay for this Potter" he growled, "when my father hears about this he'll – "

" – Do nothing if he's merely smart" said Kurya cutting off Malfoy, "if he's actually wise he'll discipline you for daring to antagonize a dragon god."

"You're lucky it's only me you went up against" said Harry, "if it had been my aunt she would have burned you to ashes in an instant and then she would have burned your parents to punish them for how they raised you. We don't have to be enemies but if you want to be on good terms with me you should rethink your attitude. Now for your own sake please leave."

"You heard him" said Kurya, "shoo!" Gritting his teeth Malfoy turned and stalked back up the train car. Crabbe and Goyle both lingered behind.

"We're sorry" said Crabbe after Malfoy was gone, "we didn't know he was going to do that."

"Yeah" said Goyle, "we apologize for his behavior."

"That's okay" said Harry, "it's hardly your fault. By the way, what are your first names?"

"I'm Vincent" said Crabbe, "thanks for asking."

"My name's Gregory" said Goyle, "pleased to meet you."

"Likewise" said Harry shaking their hands, "have you met my friends Neville, Hermione, and Ron?"

"We have now" said Crabbe with a small smile. Everyone chuckled at this, even Kurya and the two dragonborn guards cracked smiles. It was obvious that both Crabbe and Goyle were smarter than they appeared to be at first glance.

"We'd better get back" said Goyle, "before Draco comes looking for us and gets himself into even more trouble."

"You sound like his minders" said Hermione.

"Someone has to be" said Crabbe with a sigh.

"You have my sympathy" said Kurya.

"Thank you" said Goyle, "see you at Hogwarts." Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Ron all said goodbye to Crabbe and Goyle as the two of them went to follow Malfoy.

"Kurya" Harry turned to the woman still standing by the compartment door, "I didn't expect to see you here today."

"I couldn't resist keeping an eye on you" said Kurya with a smile, "even though you already had some guards."

"Do my parents know you're here?" asked Harry.

"No, but I doubt they will mind" was the reply, "your godfather and honorary uncle will probably find it funny." Harry nodded, knowing Sirius and Remus they probably would.

"Oh" said Harry to his classmates, "Hermione, Ron, this is Kurya. She is one of my father's seven closest advisors. Neville you remember her, right?"

"Yes" said Neville, "from one of the times I visited you on Mt. Celestia. It's nice to see you again."

"You too Neville" said Kurya before turning to Hermione and Ron, "and hello to you both."

"Kurya is actually a gold dragon" said Harry, "but she often has to shape shift for her job."

"What's that?" asked Hermione.

"I do a lot of deep cover research and information gathering" said Kurya, "most of it is what you humans would refer to as 'classified.' My full name is Kurya the Eye which I hope will tell you something."

"It's a very fitting name" said Harry.

"Have you been here the whole time?" asked Hermione, "just invisible? Them too?" she gestured at the dragonborn guards.

"Not exactly" said Kurya, "it's kind of hard to explain it to people who aren't familiar with us. First let me assure you that we were not watching you without you knowing it. That would be both rude and unprofessional. You don't have to worry that someone is spying on you when you take a shower or change your clothes for instance. Let's just say that we – " and she gestured to herself and the two guards " – have the ability to know when one of our lords needs us and we are able to instantly turn up wherever we need to be. So no, I wasn't actually here watching you, but I knew what was going on and we three stepped in when that Malfoy boy was about to attack Harry."

"You didn't have to do that" said Harry, "I could have dealt with him."

"I know you could have" said Kurya, "but it was our duty to do so."

"Blimey that sounds confusing" said Ron, "why not just be present and visible all the time? Wouldn't that keep people from starting stuff?"

"Maybe," said Kurya, "but I think Harry would find that to be a bit – stifling."

Before anyone could reply to that a voice sounded over the speaker system of the train.

 _"We will be reaching Hogwarts in the next five minutes"_ the voice said, _"please leave your luggage on the train. It will be taken up to the school separately. Please return your pets to their cases so they can also be brought up to the school for you. Do not worry about them, they will be perfectly safe."_

"Well it looks like it's time for me to leave" said Kurya, "have a good time my prince, and don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"That will be quite hard" said Harry, "I don't know of anything you wouldn't do."

"Exactly" said Kurya with a grin. Giving the kids a wave she noiselessly vanished. The two guards also vanished after nodding to Harry.

"How did they do that?" asked Hermione, startled by the sudden disappearances.

"Same way they arrived" said Harry, "they just went back to where they were before."

"It looked like apparition" said Ron, "wizards and witches can do that too although apparition is usually much louder. We won't learn it until we're all much older."

"Well it looks like we'd better get ready" said Harry as he put Raja back into his aquarium, _"I'll see you up at the school Raja."_ Then he looked at Hedwig, "I assume you want to fly to the Owlery on your own?" Hedwig barked an affirmative at Harry who nodded his head. Meanwhile Neville was picking up his kitten and putting him back in his basket. The kitten did not sound happy about this and was meowing a protest.

"Sorry Voldemort" said Neville as Ron gasped behind him, "I doubt they'd let me bring you to the feast. But if anyone does anything bad to you let me know."

"You named your cat after You Know Who?" asked Ron.

"Um, yes?" said Neville as Harry laughed and even Hermione had a small smile.

"Are you insane? Why would you do that?" demanded Ron in confusion.

"He has his reasons" said Harry.

"But – " began Ron but stopped when they all felt the train slowing down and coming to a stop.

"I guess we're here" said Hermione, "shall we get off the train?"

"Yes, let's" said Neville and with that the four students exited the train and stepped on the station platform. They had arrived.

(To Be Continued)

 **A/N: This was the longest chapter I've ever posted of any of my stories. I figured you all deserved it after having to wait so long for it.**

 **If Neville seems out of character here as compared to canon remember that in this story he was raised by his parents rather than his grandmother after they were cured of their Cruciatus comas by one of Bahamut's healers (see chapter 6) so he's grown up much more confident in himself. Also, growing up with Harry certainly didn't hurt.**

 **Credit where credit is due: I got the idea to make Crabbe and Goyle smarter and friendlier to Harry and his friends from MrWriterWriter's hilarious story _One Punch Wizard_. Their snarky characterizations in that story are very funny.**

 **Lastly, I have no idea why I decided to name Neville's cat after Voldemort. It just popped out as I was writing the chapter and it stuck. Hopefully it might make for a good running gag.**

 **Thanks for reading. Until next time...**


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